Big Ten's come to B-town

The Big Ten is home to seven of the top 25 women's swimming and diving teams in the country, according to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.\nThe Hoosiers sit in the middle of those seven at No. 18, but their roster size falls much shorter. When the 10 other Big Ten teams come to IU this weekend for the Big Ten Championship, most of their rosters will have more than 30 women.\nThe Hoosiers bring 22.\n"We are the dark horse this year and have a small team and so we are going to have to concentrate on winning as an entire group and not the individual," said IU coach Dorsey Tierney. "Bottom line is everyone needs to know their responsibilities and look at themselves, take care of themselves and know how well they can perform and be selfish with it."\nIU enters the Big Ten Championship after a tough loss to No. 14 Penn State putting its final record at 6-3 and 3-2 within the Big Ten. Despite the loss, the Hoosiers hope to win their second Big Ten title within three years.\n"We see the dual meets as a stepping stone into the Big Ten Championship and our wins and losses are certainly an afterthought," Tierney said after the loss to Penn State. "We want to be plenty rested and take care of our bodies."\nIllnesses and injuries have plagued the Hoosiers all season, but even with a depleted roster all season, IU still tallied six wins. To prepare this week, and avoid \nfurther injury, the team has cut down on practice and stuck to simply fine tuning their technique. \nEven in the team's loss to Penn State, sophomore Leila Vaziri claimed five event titles and earned Big Ten Swimmer of the Week honors. Among those five wins, Vaziri defeated last year's Big Ten backstroke champion Sarah Haupt, cementing her contention for this year's crown.\nThe diving squad should aid in pulling IU toward another championship, boasting three of the Big Ten's best divers. Freshman Christina Loukas broke the school record for three-meter diving against Penn State. IU also brings 2004 Olympian and All-American senior Cassandra Cardinell and Bloomington native sophomore Lindsay Weigle who also owns the IU platform diving record.\nThe championship begins at 7 p.m. today and continues through Sunday. The Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in the Student Sports and Recreation Center will play host to the event.\nCollege Sports Television will air the 2005 Big Ten Championships on tape-delay basis. The first airing of the Big Ten Championship will be at 9:30 p.m. Feb. 22 on CSTV. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Doug \nKlausen at dkalusen@indiana.edu.