Hoosiers honor seniors with victory over Boilers

The No. 11 IU men's swimming and diving team defeated arch rival No. 14 Purdue on senior day with a 134-108 victory at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center in Bloomington. Prior to the meet, the Hoosiers honored their eight seniors.\nAlthough it was senior day, it was the underclassmen who paced IU as junior Lee Houchin and sophomore Nick Walkotten claimed three titles each. The Hoosiers claimed nine overall on the day.\n"I wanted to just get out and swim fast and do my best," Houchin said. "It's always a goal of ours to do as well as we can at any meet, but Purdue's a big rivalry and we just want to do well against them."\nThe win improved IU to 7-3 on the season and 4-3 in Big Ten play. It also extended IU's lead over Purdue to 6-3 in the AT&T Crimson and Gold Cup.\n"They're a very tough team but I'm not satisfied at all," coach Ray Looze said. "This is just a small step in the process. We still got a lot to work on and we have a lot of important decisions to make."\nSenior Kevin Swander, Houchin and Walkotten teamed up with sophomore Ben Hesen in the opening event to place first with a time of 3 minutes, 15.82 seconds to get the Hoosiers off to a dominating start. The effort by the quartet not only cleared the NCAA provisional standard, it also entered the record books as the eighth-fastest time in school history.\nThe Hoosiers raced to a top-two sweep in the 1,000-yard freestyle as sophomore John Kevin Koehler placed first with a time of 9:20.63, followed by sophomore Alex Brunfeldt's second-place time of 9:28.79.\nIn the 200-yard freestyle, IU produced a one-three effort as senior Sergiy Fesenko claimed the title with a time of 1:39.46 while freshman Jeff Wood placed third with a personal best time of 1:41.25. \nHouchin picked up his second title of the day in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.77 and Swander posted a time of 21.40 for third place.\nIU continued to dominate Purdue, placing one-two in the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore Todd Patrick obtained the first of two individual titles on the day with a time of 1:49.58. Freshman A.J. Miller recorded a time of 1:52.22 for second place.\nThe Hoosiers won the first five events of the meet and led the Boilermakers 65-28 before Purdue's Steve LoBue won the platform event. Senior Ryan Fagan placed second with a score of 311.17, while senior Jesse Rappaport closed out the top three at 294.15. \nThe Hoosiers did not allow any chance for Purdue to build momentum as they recorded a top-two sweep in the 200-yard butterfly. Walkotten picked up his second title of the day with a time of 1:49.02, while Fesenko finished as the runner-up with a 1:50.66.\nAfter the Boilermakers responded with a victory in the 200-yard backstroke, the Hoosiers again countered with a decisive top-three sweep in the 500-yard freestyle to propel the Hoosiers to a 121-67 lead. \nWood captured the crown in a personal-best time of 4:31.18, while Koehler placed second in 4:35.06 and Brunfeldt took third in 4:37.24.\n"We set ourselves up really well," senior Mike Jones said. "Some guys had some good season bests, so we're just coming out with a lot of confidence from that meet and it's a really good setup for the Big Tens."\nSaturday's meet marks the end of the regular season for the Hoosiers and the beginning of focusing on the Big Ten Championships. \n"Minnesota and Michigan are the clear favorites for the Big Ten title," Looze said. "We just need to go in an do our best. We are slated third going in, based on the body of Minnesota and Michigan's work. We just need to do our best and see what we can do."\nThe Hoosiers will play host to the 2006 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships from Feb. 23 to 25. The event will take place in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center at the SRSC.