Hoosiers place 2nd in U.S. Open

Traditionally, the U.S. Open has been an event where the top talents in the world clash for three days. On Saturday, the Hoosiers showed they belong under that heading, swimming to a second-place finish with 194 points. \nJunior David Schulze led the Hoosier scoring for much of the event. On Thursday, Schulze swam to a season-best fifth place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:02.53), a third-place finish in the bonus consolation heat of the 200-meter individual medley (2:03.59) and a second-place finish in the 800-meter freestyle relay (7:27.49), with teammates senior Heath Montgomery and freshmen Val Milkov and Richard Bryant. In the 200-meter breaststroke Sunday, Schulze placed third with a season-best time of 2:14.58.\nFreshman Murph Halasz won the bonus consolation heat of the 200-meter IM by only one hundredth of a second, with a time of 2:03.57. Halasz then finished seventh overall in the 100-meter butterfly (55.07) Friday before tying for third in the 200-meter butterfly Saturday with a new season-best time of 1:59.42. When converted to yards, Halasz's time in the 200-meter butterfly brought him within eleven hundredths of a second of Mark Spitz's 30-year old 1:46.89 school record.\nBryant placed seventh in the 400-meter freestyle (3:57.14) Thursday. \nThe Hoosiers captured a first-place finish in the 400-meter medley relay on Friday. The squad of sophomore Matt Leach, Schulze Halasz, and Milkov combined to win the event with a time of 3:43.60, more than two seconds ahead of runner-up University of Florida.\nIn the 100-meter freestyle, Milkov and Andersson swam to fourth- (51.21) and eighth-place (51.52) finishes, respectively, in the bonus consolatory round. Andersson set a season best in the preliminary session, with a 51.17 time. \nIn the final event of the tournament, the 400-meter freestyle relay, the Hoosier squad of sophomore Mike Payne, Andersson, Schulze and Milkov finished in sixth with a 3:26.58 time. \nThe University of Florida won the event, tallying a 221 final score. Penn State, Oakland University and Brown University rounded out the top five colleges, behind IU. \nThe U.S. Open marked the end of the Hoosiers' fall season. Their next competition is at home against Ohio State Jan. 12.