Hoosiers hope to recapture Big Ten with senior leadership

The women's swimming and diving team heads into this weekend with some of the team traveling to the Miami Invitational in Ohio and the rest heading to Washington for the U.S. Open. Regardless of where this team heads, they have been led by a strong senior class thus far.\nThe swimming and diving team is led in many ways by its seniors, led by captain Brooke Taflinger. Taflinger feels the seniors bring many great attributes to the team, but leadership truly stands out.\n"The senior class brings leadership, not only in practices and meets, but in who we are," she said. "I think the younger classes really look up to us and appreciate what we have done over the past four years."\nThe class did not all start out at Indiana. Taflinger swam at Florida her freshman year, where she placed ninth in the SEC championships. Another senior who transferred to IU is former Arizona State swimmer Erin Gorlesky. Greer McGettrick swam at Fresno State up until her junior year when the school dropped its swimming program. \nTogether, this senior class has had several memorable moments, but one that sticks out in many of their minds is the Big Ten championship last season. \n"Winning the Big Ten was the most incredible experience of my swimming career and it is one I will treasure forever," Taflinger said. \nAnother senior who has been essential this season is Sarah Fiden. Fiden set the school record in the 1650-meter freestyle at the IU Invitational. Fiden also considers the Big Ten championship her greatest moment at IU and is having a great time in her senior year, but said she is having a hard time realizing it's almost over.\n"It's surreal. I've been swimming since I was six and for this to be my last year of competitive swimming, it's hard to grasp," Fiden said. "It's nice though to be a senior and help lead the team."\nAfter this weekend, the team's next event will be its holiday training trip. After that, the real stretch of the season starts as the team will have a few dual meets to compete in and then the wrap up of the season begins. The senior class will be moral leaders for this team and Gorlesky is looking forward to finishing strong in her senior year. \nGorlesky said she has loved the time she has had swimming for IU and had words of encouragement to the younger classes.\n"Have fun, you always enjoy what you're doing more when you have a smile on your face," Gorlesky said. "It goes fast, so enjoy it." \nTaflinger and Fiden both said they have aspirations of swimming in the Olympic Trials this summer and would like to continue with swimming sometime in their lives. Fiden also commented that she would like to eventually be a coach. It will be a new experience for them when the season is over because they have been swimming competitively their entire lives. Gorlesky also has aspirations to continue with swimming but right now said she is looking forward to trying something else.\n"I thought about swimming another year," Gorlesky said. "But I've been swimming since I was eight, so I'm excited to try some new things, but really that's too far down the road."\nIU coach Dorsey Tierney stressed what a pleasure it has been coaching the current senior class. She said that they were underdogs their entire careers at IU but they have always found a way to shine. Tierney said that three of them are transfers and they really have made the best of their experience at IU.\n"This group really strives to be better and they are never satisfied," Tierney said. "The fact that I enjoy the most is that they have been underdogs and in some circumstances they are still underdogs, but they have exceeded even their own expectations. They are really consistent performers."\n-- Contact staff writer Chris Hopper at chopper@indiana.edu.