IU prepares to face Wildcats

The No. 11 IU men's swimming and diving team faces off in a Big Ten battle against No. 17 Northwestern at 4 p.m. Friday in Evanston, Ill. The Hoosiers have not been in action for close to two weeks, but used the long Thanksgiving break to get ready for the Wildcats.\n"We've just been focusing on working hard," senior Thomas Clavier said. "We're really determined even though we're busted up from lifting weights and swimming hard."\nThe Hoosiers might be without two of their top swimmers as junior Colin Russell earned a spot on Canada's Commonwealth games roster in the trials for the games Nov. 23 to 26 and senior Sergiy Fesenko is set to swim in the European Short Course Championships Dec. 8 to 11. Even without two of their main contributors, the Hoosiers' contingent of sophomore Todd Patrick, senior Kevin Swander and sophomore Nick Walkotten will lead the team against a tough Northwestern trio of junior Mike Alexandrov, sophomore Kyle Bubolz and junior Mike Grevers. \n"This is a real big meet for us because it's another milestone to show how good we are," Clavier said. "Northwestern is a good team."\nAs was the case in the IU Invitational, the Hoosiers' depth will play a key part in their success against Northwestern. \n"Northwestern is pretty top-heavy," Clavier said. "They have a lot of guys who are really good, where as we have more depth. We truly are a team, a unit."\nNorthwestern's trio allows them to have a tremendous relay team and which transcends into their success at dual meets. Nonetheless, IU coach Ray Looze said his team has the capability to handle the lineup Northwestern brings to the table. \n"We should be able to exploit their weaknesses and neutralize their strengths," Looze said. "I think we have a lineup that's going to surprise them."\nThe Hoosiers will also hope to post more provisional times for the NCAAs as sophomores Alex Brunfeldt, Fesenko and Ben Hesen, Patrick and Swander all have qualifying times for the NCAAs. Four divers on the men's side, seniors Ryan Fagan, Brian Mariano and Jesse Rappaport and junior Taylor Roberts also qualified for the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships held March 10 to 12 in Columbus, Ohio.