IU swimming travel to Lexington for meet

The IU men’s and women’s swimming teams will have a target on their backs Friday. A trip to face off against unranked Kentucky might appear to be an easy task, but the Hoosiers know they can’t afford to lose their focus in Lexington.\n“If you look at the upsets in sports across the board, anything can happen,” said junior Justin Peterfish. “We need to realize that could be us if we aren’t focused.”\nThe No. 7 men’s squad travels to Lexington knowing the Wildcats will be looking to spur an upset. \n“They are a good SEC team,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “They always take this meet very seriously.”\nSwimming against a weaker opponent can cause focus issues, but so can the time off over Thanksgiving. The Hoosiers were off Wednesday through Sunday during the break. Looze insisted they train at least three times to keep in shape during their time off. Most of the swimmers trained with their former club teams. Now that they’ve returned to Bloomington, Looze doesn’t think they’ve missed a beat.\n“Everyone kept training,” Looze said. “And having a meet right off the bat got everyone re-focused.”\nHowever, two of IU’s top swimmers didn’t make the trip home. Seniors Ben Hesen and Todd Patrick spent the week in Italy swimming against some of the top swimmers in their age group at the Grand Prix Italy. Hesen notched three top-eight finishes. \n“It’s hard to find guys that can beat them,” Looze said. “We sent them over there to give them the experience that they need.”\nThe No. 22-ranked women already suffered the consequences of being overconfident after a surprising loss to Missouri in early October. Since then, they have worked tirelessly to get back on track, and they see the Kentucky meet as a chance to continue their ascension in the rankings.\n“It will be a good test for us,” sophomore Diana Smailis said. “They have a lot of good upperclassmen.”\nFor added measure, the Hoosiers will be shorthanded. IU lost sophomore Ashley Jones to season-ending knee surgery several weeks ago, and fellow sophomore Brittany Barwegen is still suffering from mononucleosis. The team seems to be coming together despite the setbacks.\n“The women have really turned things around,” Looze said. “I think we’ll see them step up.” \nThe Hoosiers have voiced a desire to return to the form they had last season when they won the Big Ten title. Not making much progress in the rankings thus far this season has fired them up.\n“After we lost the Missouri meet, it really hurt our ranking,” Smailis said. “That has really motivated us to get better.”\nMeanwhile, IU coach Jeff Huber’s diving squad is also looking to continue its success. The team heads to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend for the Ohio State Diving Invitational.