IU to put on Hoosierland Invitational

IU’s swimming and diving team has one last opportunity to compete together before the new year.

The Hoosiers will compete in this weekend’s Hoosierland Invitational along with Cincinnati and Notre Dame.

The Invitational will be an unscored meet that gives the opportunity for past swimmers that are pursuing Olympic or other competitive aspirations to compete in an intense environment.

Coach Ray Looze sees other positive benefits for his team’s participation.
The meet will have both preliminaries and finals that will help to serve as a dry-run for the Big Ten and NCAA meet, he said.

The main goal will be to make sure the team is in a good place going into next semester’s competition.

“What’s really important is having everyone clicking and contributing when they can,” Looze said. “People that have not been counted on will have to step up.”

Both the No. 9 women’s and the No. 18 men’s teams have had a good start to the season.

The men (1-1) have had junior Titus Knight named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week twice along with senior Kate Fesenko of the women’s team (2-0).

This week some members of the team have had a resting period where they do not swim as much yardage as they would during a normal week.

Sophomore breaststroker Allysa Vavra said she wants to do well as she prepares for Nationals next week.

“I’m just hoping to get some personal bests,” she said.

Vavra anticipates seeing how the rest will help increase her teammates’ times.
“I’m excited to see what the people who are resting will do,” she said. “When they get a little bit of rest, they end up swimming really fast.”