Toughest portion of schedule still remains

After finals wrap up next week, most IU students will be heading home to their families for a few weeks to relax and take a break from all the hustle and bustle of school. But for the men's swimming and diving team, they will have about a week break and then will return to school on Dec. 28 to begin training for the toughest part of the season. \nThe swim team will be heading to Miami, Fla. for their winter training trip, while the diving team will be training in Bloomington to prepare to host the America's Cup Diving Meet.\nThe Hoosiers returned from the Texas and Miami (Ohio) invitationals this past weekend where they faced some stiff competition. The top eleven Hoosiers competed at the Texas Invite where they tied for ninth. The remainder of the squad and the diving team competed at the Miami Invite where they placed eighth. \nAt both invitationals, coach Ray Looze said the Hoosiers were at a disadvantage because they were not shaved and tapered like many of the other teams were. But they did see some fast swimming, which allowed them to put in many season and career best times. Junior sprinter Dale Ramsy also said the Texas Invite gave the top eleven Hoosiers a good indication of who they may see at the NCAA championships, as well as allowed them to swim at the host facility of the 2003 NCAAs. \n"We have a new understanding and a new definition of what fast is," Ramsy said.\nThe Hoosiers are now looking ahead to the hardest part of the season which will begin in the new year at Ohio State. The Hoosiers will also face Michigan, Purdue and Kentucky in dual meets and the Big Ten and NCAA Championships next semester. The winter training trip in Miami will allow the swimmers to swim outside, and train at a higher level of intensity and quality to prepare for their tough upcoming schedule.\n"We are going to try to get to the point in practice where we are swimming very fast," Looze said. "We are looking for a higher quality and generally faster swimming." \nLooze said he still has hopes that seven or eight guys will qualify for the NCAAs. \nThe diving team returned from the Miami Invite this weekend after an impressive performance. On the one-meter finals, junior Marc Carlton led the way placing second. Freshman Brian Mariano and sophomore Ryan Fagan placed third and fourth, junior Alex Burns placed fifth and senior Adam Hazes placed sixth, respectively. Carlton, Mariano, Hazes and Fagan also placed 1-2-3-4 in the preliminaries of the three-meter, but were unable to compete in the finals because they had to return to Bloomington. \nThe Hoosiers have been continuing their training but will take a break for about a week after finals. When they return to Bloomington, they will be training hard on the one-meter, three-meter and platform to prepare to host the America's Cup Diving Meet. The America's Cup will feature nationally and internationally ranked divers that have the potential to compete in the 2004 Olympics including Carlton and Mariano. \nThe team will also be training for the upcoming dual meets and Big Ten and NCAA championships. While all six divers will be working hard on their one and three-meter events by preparing new dives with high degrees of difficulty, they will be training extra-hard on platform. \n"One of our strengths is that we are one of the few teams that all dive on platform," Mariano said. \nThe America's Cup Diving Meet will be held at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on Jan. 7-12. The Hoosiers will face the Ohio State Buckeyes on Jan. 11 in Columbus, Ohio.