Gophers topple No. 9 Hoosiers 167-137

The No. 9 IU men's swimming team fought a tough battle on the road at Minnesota, but came up short 163-137 despite an impressive diving performance. No. 11 Minnesota claimed a sum of nine titles at the meet while IU took seven. \nSenior Sergiy Fesenko put the Hoosiers on the right path, grabbing three crowns including another distance sweep, while the divers took the top four spots in both diving events. \nIn the meet opener, the Hoosiers fell in a 15-2 hole as Minnesota's relay team of Dan Berve, Colin Lee-To, Neil Osten and Mario Delac took the 200-yard medley relay title with a time of 1:29.52. IU only managed a third-place finish. \n"We just got one-twoed in both relays," IU head coach Ray Looze said. "There's just no way to win a meet that way."\nFesenko collected his third consecutive distance crown of the season with the sixth-fastest time in school history in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Fesenko took first place, turning in a time of 9:09.14. IU dominated the distance portion of the meet, cutting the Golden Gopher lead to 21-15. \nMinnesota countered in the 200-yard freestyle to extend their lead to 35-20. Sophomore Todd Patrick of the Hoosiers just missed a B-cut time, finishing within 1:38.48. \n"I'm happy with how I did individually," Patrick said.\nThe Hoosiers swept the Golden Gophers in the one-meter diving. Sophomore Taylor Roberts slid into sixth place on IU's one-meter diving list with a score of 362.33, a title-winning performance. Junior Brian Mariano placed second in the event with a score of 338.25. The Hoosiers managed to come within two points of the Golden Gophers with their solid diving performance. \nIn the 100-yard backstroke, IU took a 48-45 lead thanks to a spectacular swim by sophomore Ben Hesen. \n"I thought I did pretty well, actually racing against a kid that I really wanted to beat for a very long time," Hesen said.\nMinnesota began to pull away from the Hoosiers in the 100-yard butterfly. Minnesota's Dan Berve edged Hesen by .47 seconds to give the Gophers the first-place points.\nMinnesota clinched the upset victory, 163-137 with a top-two sweep in the 400-yard freestyle relay. \n"We just didn't have enough people swim well to win at their place," Looze said.\nThe Hoosiers take on Louisville, Southern Illinois and Wisconsin in their next home meet at 1 p.m. Friday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.\n-- Staff Writer Steve Harris contributed to this report.