Women's team swims to pair of wins, loss to N'Western

The No. 21 IU women's swimming and diving team faced tough competition over the weekend as they took on Big Ten rival Northwestern Friday, and then welcomed the University of Kentucky and Southwest Missouri State University Saturday afternoon. \nOn Friday, IU entered the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center hoping to gain its first Big Ten win of the season. However, the Northwestern Wildcats proved to be too much, sending the Hoosiers to a 159-141 loss. \nHoosier swimmers and divers won seven out of the 16 events and sophomore Leila Vaziri took three events herself. But, Northwestern took advantage of a depleted Hooiser roster and moved ahead, staying on pace to secure the Big Ten victory. \n"We have a few swimmers with the flu right now, so I am proud of the effort they gave," said IU swimming coach Dorsey Tierney. \nSophomore Annica Lofstedt battled the flu, limiting her competition to the relays. The Hoosiers saw the return of junior Lauren Torpey from an arm injury and junior Lauren Lubus, who struggled with a back injury. \nFrom the start of the meet, IU stayed on top by taking the lead through the first four events of the meet as Torpey captured the 1,000--meter freestyle event in 10 minutes 13.93 seconds and Vaziri took her first event title in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.09 seconds. After the first four events, the Wildcats never looked back by taking the lead in the 100-yard breaststroke and claiming all top three finishes. The closest IU ever got again in the swimming events was in the 50-yard freestyle where Vaziri clocked in with a time of 23.77 seconds narrowing the NU lead by 11 points. \nHeading into the diving portion of the meet, IU was behind with a score 146-116. The Wildcats took the 3-meter springboard as Leanne Dumais took the event from IU freshman Christine Loukas with a score of 269.62-264.82. Heading into the platform event, IU diving proved to their Big Ten rival why they are considered one of the best diving teams in the nation. Sophomore Lindsay Weigle posted a new IU record in the platform with a score of 345.65 to win the event and fellow teammate Heather Chapman followed her lead, taking second place with a score 301.28. \n"It is reminiscent of some squads we have had in the past where we really prepared for a good championship season," said IU diving coach Jeff Huber.\nThe Wildcats' lead and pace throughout the meet proved too much for IU to overcome.\nAfter coming off a tough loss against Northwestern, the Hoosiers headed into Saturday hoping to rebound and get two more wins under their belt. IU faced the Kentucky Wildcats and Southwest Missouri State and dominated both teams with IU beating UK 140-103 and SMS 176-46. \n"I thought we came back well from (Saturday's) loss, we were more fresh today, even though we were blind-sided," Tierney said.\nVaziri and junior Kristen Bradley each took three event titles adding to the IU's overall total, who won 11 out of the 14 events. During the meet, IU never lost the lead it created from the first event, the 400-yard medley relay where Vaziri posted a NCAA provisional standard in her 100-yard backstroke leadoff with a time of 55.81 seconds. \nBefore the first diving portion, Bradley won the 400-yard individual medley, and posted a time of 4:22.94 clearing a B-cut standard for NCAA qualifying. \nIn the 200-yard butterfly, sophomore Sarah Bugden posted a NCAA provisional time of 2:01.60, good enough for first place. In the 100-yard freestyle, Vaziri picked up her third event title of the meet with a time 51.72 and fellow teammate junior Doherty Colgin claimed third with a time of 52.90.\nIU came into Saturday's meet strong and proved tough to handle for Kentucky and SMS. IU's two victories improved its record to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten.\nThe Hoosiers return to the pool Nov. 19-21 when they play host to the Indiana Invitational.\n-- Contact staff writer Doug Klausen at dklausen@indiana.edu.