IU falls to pair of ranked opponents during weekend

The IU men's swimming and diving team met its match this weekend in Austin, Texas. The Hoosiers were unable to pull off the upset bid, falling short against No. 3 Texas and No. 4 University of California, Berkeley in a double dual meet at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. IU fell to Texas 210-149 and California 204-165, bringing its record to 2-3 overall.\nThe Longhorns dominated the two-day competition, winning 12 of the 20 events. \n"Texas is obviously a national title contender," IU coach Ray Looze said. "They are top five in the country, and in my opinion, they're the best team in the country."\nThe Hoosiers did manage to get two first-place finishes out of juniors Ben Hesen and Pat Penoyar. Hesen took first in the 100-yard backstroke, and Penoyar won the 200-yard breaststroke.\nSophomore Steffan Troxel finished second in the 1,650-yard freestyle, with junior Alex Brunfeldt taking third in the same event. \n"Overall, we just ran up against some very stiff competition," Looze said. "We came in hoping to pull off the upset, but the reality was that we went up against two very tough teams."\nOn the diving side, junior Taylor Roberts earned a first-place finish in the 3-meter diving event, and juniors David Legler and Justin Montrie finished behind him in third and fourth place. In the 1-meter diving event, freshman David Piercy took fourth place, with Montrie and Legler finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. \n"We had some good training when we got there, and overall we performed pretty well," assistant diving coach Todd Waikel said. "Taylor Roberts and David Piercy were the highlights of our efforts."\nAlthough IU didn't get the results it was looking for, the Hoosiers were able to draw some positives from their road trip.\n"I think we were able to get the necessary experience for the Big Ten Championships and later, the NCAA Championships, which was one of our goals coming in," Looze said.