Diving records smashed in Big Ten's

Apparently, size does matter. \nPenn State capitalized on the depth of its squad Thursday night at the Women's Big Ten Championships in Bloomington. Penn State took the lead after the second night of competition, telling the rest of the Big Ten they were going to have to play catch up if they are going to take the lead from them.\n"We came out on fire today especially in the prelims," Penn State coach Bill Dorenkott said. "We are pretty excited about our swimming today and one of our big assets is the depth we have."\nIn preliminary Thursday morning, No. 18 IU had five swimmers qualify for individual events for the finals late that night. Also in prelims for diving IU had four divers qualify for the finals in one-meter diving with freshman Christina Loukas carrying the lead after the prelims with a score of 325.20.\nMichigan had a small lead after Wednesday night in the team standings and created a greater lead by taking the crown in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Michigan captured the event with a new Big Ten Conference record of 1:29.89 and took the lead with a total of 113. IU finished the event in sixth place with a time of 1:32.04 -- a new personal best and a NCAA B-cut provisional time. \n"We weren't real competitive today and we have got a young team and overestimated our confidence and we really need to just take it one step at a time," coach Dorsey Tierney said.\nIn the 500-yard freestyle, IU did not place any qualifiers in the championship final but did place two IU juniors Doherty Colgin and Lauren Torpey in the consolation final.\nIn the 200-yard individual medley, IU sophomore Susanna Ernst swam in consolation final and junior Kristen Bradley competed in the championship final. Michigan freshman Justine Mueller took the event with a new pool record of 1:57.78. IU's Bradley took fifth with a new personal best of 2:02.60 and Ernst took 11th with a time of 2:04.90. \nPenn State continued their commanding lead with 211 points, Wisconsin taking second with 166, Michigan dropping to third with 149 and IU moving up to fourth place with 109 points.\nIn the 50-yard freestyle, IU had only one swimmer in the championship final with sophomore Annica Lofstedt. Michigan's sophomore Kaitlyn Brady took first with a time of 22.48 and Lofstedt took eighth with 23.24. \nPenn State held the lead with a total of 238 points and IU fell to fifth place with 120 points. \n"Annica was over-swam today and this is her first time (competing) in finals but she will come back better tomorrow," Tierney said.\nIn the one-meter diving finals, IU had four divers competing for the top spot. IU freshman Christina Loukas took the first-place crown with a new pool record of 332.70, beating her old record of 325.20. Fellow divers senior Cassandra Cardinell took third, sophomore Lindsay Weigle took fifth and junior Lisa Silvestri took eighth. \nPenn State maintained the lead with a total of 238 points. Michigan pulled into second with 199 and IU grabbed third place with 183 points. \n"I am really overwhelmed right now and it feels good to break a record," Loukas said. "I hope it carries over in tomorrow's competition."\nAction will resume for the Big Ten Championships at 7 p.m. tonight and Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.\nDiving will continue today with the three-meter finals and Saturday with the platform diving. IU brings to the table Bloomington native Weigle, one-meter diving record holder Loukas, and 2004 Olympian and All-American senior Cardinell. \nIn swimming, the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke will feature 2004 Big Ten Champion Sara Haupt from Penn State taking on IU rival Leila Vaziri. These two met in the regular season with Vaziri taking both events from Haupt.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Doug Klausen at dklausen@indiana.edu.