Almost there: 1 meet before Big Ten final

One meet is left for the No. 24 women's swimming and diving team before it plays host to the Big Ten Championship. IU is looking to protect its streak of five wins and looks to gain another victory against Big Ten favorite Penn State. The cream and crimson will be playing host to the Nittany Lions at 6 p.m. Friday and at 10 a.m. Saturday. IU is coming off a close battle between Purdue as the Hoosiers drowned the Boilermakers last weekend 157-141. \n"We are coming to the part of the season were we are starting to back off our hard practices and start to fine tune for the Big Ten and NCAA Championships," said coach Dorsey Tierney. "Penn State will be a challenge for us and pull a lot of depth from their team in this meet."\nA match-up that could be a close race will have sophomore Leila Vaziri going against last year's Big Ten champion in the 100-yard backstroke, Sara Haupt. Both women specialize in the 100-yard backstroke and Vaziri was recognized this week for her hard work in the backstroke events. She was awarded www.CollegeSwimming.com's National College Swimmer of the Week for this week. \n"I am excited to see what happens at this meet and about the same time last year I edged her out in our dual meet against Penn State," Vaziri said. "It will be good to see where she is at but not that it matters since it will be my race." \nNot only are the swimmers showing their swagger as they head into this weekend's meet, but the diving squad is proving its dominance this year. Many of the divers went to Indianapolis during the week to participate in the USA Diving International Team Selection camp. \n"With a few of our girls up at the USA diving camp, they are going to be tired and hope that they can put on a good performance," said Jason Baumann, IU's diving events coordinator. "Hope we can send off an All-American Cassandra Cardinell on a good note."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Doug Klausen at dklausen@indiana.edu.