IU topples 3 teams for 1st victories

The men's swimming and diving team broke into the win column in a big way Friday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center as the Hoosiers recorded three wins against Louisville, Southern Illinois and No. 25 Wisconsin. \nSenior Sergiy Fesenko and sophomore Todd Patrick led the Hoosiers with three titles each. Overall, the Hoosiers claimed 12 titles on the day. \nMen's swimming coach Ray Looze was very satisfied with his team's overall performance.\n"I was very pleased with how the team comprehensively took care of business," he said. "We didn't lose a race, and it was a pretty dominant performance." \nIn the opening event of the afternoon, the Hoosier contingent of sophomore Ben Hesen, seniors Kevin Swanderand Thomas Clavier and junior Colin Russell captured first place with a time of 3:20.06 in the 400-yard medley relay. \nFesenko continued his early season success by blowing away the rest of the field with a time of 1:38.69 in the 200-yard freestyle. \nIn the 200-yard butterfly, Fesenko's remarkable day continued as he placed first with a time of 1:50.10 for the Hoosiers. Southern Illinois sophomore Antonio Santoro placed second in 1:50.97, while Wisconsin freshman Scott Rice finished in third in 1:51.15. Notably, freshman Keith Dawley posted a career-best time of 2:01.00.\nIn the 200-yard individual medley, Patrick snared the crown in 1:50.17, while Swander helped IU record a top-two sweep with a time of 1:51.79. Meanwhile, Louisville's Predia finished in third, while freshman A.J. Miller notched a career-best in 1:56.55 for fifth place. \nIn the 100-yard freestyle, the Hoosiers swept the top two spots as Patrick recorded a career-best 44.80 for first. That performance also tied Patrick for No. 12 all time in the event. Meanwhile, junior Lee Houchin finished second in 45.88.\n"We just keep learning more and more from each meet," Patrick said. "We had younger guys step it up. I'm just happy with how I'm improving from meet to meet." \nFesenko and Patrick teamed up with Houchin and Koehler to finish first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:03.27, while Southern Illinois placed second in 3:04.86, and Wisconsin took third in 3:05.45.\nEven though the Hoosiers were favored to win the meet, they did not let it get to their heads. \n"They were the underdog and had very good swimmers," Swander said. "We didn't go in overconfident and were able to pick up a win. It's a good sign that our team is coming together."\nThe Hoosiers also went one-two in the one-meter diving break as sophomore Taylor Roberts claimed the title with a 312.48 tally, while junior Brian Mariano finished second with a 302.28. Senior Ryan Fagan also cleared the zone-qualifying standard in the event with a nonscoring 316.50 effort. \nRoberts had a chance to break a school record entering his final dive and even though he was unable to do so, he still came out on top. \n"It felt good especially knowing that I'm not diving as well as I can be, so that gives me a lot of self-confidence," he said.\nNext up, the Hoosiers play host in the Indiana Invitational Nov. 18 at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.