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Men’s swimming and diving
Hoosiers prep for top-ranked competition

There is no rest for the No. 20 men’s swimming and diving team when it comes to tough competition. The Hoosiers (1-3) will head to Columbus, Ohio to take on a formidable No. 12 Ohio State (5-0).

Coming off a loss against No. 7 Michigan, IU coach Ray Looze will lead IU against the second-highest ranked team in the Big Ten.

The Hoosiers are still a rather young team and are looking to progress after last weekend. Right now, the goal is capturing a team-wide toughness to take with them to meets after a big loss in Ann Arbor. Mich., Looze said.

“There is only one way to respond,” he said. “And that is to come out swinging at the next meet.”

Coming off the worst meet of the year, the Hoosiers will look to rebound with a lot of hard work in the pool.

“I like what I’ve seen at practice,” Looze said. “They believe we have a chance.”
Although the swimmers struggled, the divers are looking to continue the success they had with a sweep of events against Michigan.

Head diving coach Jeff Huber knows that the divers are still getting healthy and will need to improve to contend with the Buckeyes.

“Ohio State has probably one of the best teams they’ve had in the 21 years I’ve been here,” Huber said. “We probably have the youngest, so we’re going to have to step up.”

– Caitlin Ursini

Track and field
IU ready for Saturday meet against Purdue

The IU track and field team will host rival Purdue in a dual meet this Saturday in Bloomington.

Both teams bring strong season-opening performances to Saturday’s head-to-head matchup.

At the Indiana Open on Jan. 9, the Hoosiers won 17 events during their first meet of the season. Sophomore Derek Drouin and junior Faith Sherrill earned Big Ten Track and Field Athlete of the Week honors for their marks in the men’s high jump and women’s shot put, respectively.

“Every time you take a step forward, expectations go up” coach Ron Helmer said. “You’re expected to keep doing better, and that’s just the nature of what these athletes do.”

The Boilermakers look to build on strong performances from the Purdue Invitational on Jan. 9, highlighted by junior Stacey Wannemacher.   

Similar to Sherrill, Wannemacher broke her school’s record for women’s shot put last Saturday with a throw of 16.24 meters.

The dual meet is the first for the Hoosiers this season and the first head-to-head meet against Purdue since 2004.

Sherrill, a Fort Wayne native, understands the importance of the rivalry.

“There’s a fine line between IU and Purdue,” Sherrill said. “And everyone knows that is a line which can’t be crossed.”

The Hoosiers’ dual meet against Purdue will begin at 2 p.m. in Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse.

– Avi Zaleon

Wrestling
Kinser, Escobedo face tough tests

Taking an opponent lightly is something the wrestling team has refused to do all season, which explains its 9-0 record. Glancing at the Hoosiers’ schedule, a casual observer might just see that this weekend is a home dual against weaker American and Cleveland State tomorrow at 10 a.m. at University Gym.  

But American has four ranked wrestlers that will give the Hoosiers a challenge Saturday.

“There are a lot of difficult matches for us this weekend,” IU coach Duane Goldman said.

The key matchup of the day could be at 157 lbs., where IU junior Kurt Kinser will take on American’s Sean Fittery.

At No. 7 nationally, Kinser has made a big jump after being sidelined due to injury for the beginning of the season. Kinser is coming off a successful holiday break where he finished second at 157 lbs. in the Southern Scuffle and a 16-4 major decision at West Virginia.

Kinser will be in a rare position Saturday as he will go into the match against Fittery as the underdog. Fittery’s No. 4 national ranking makes him someone that Kinser will need to defeat to keep climbing the charts at 157 lbs.

Kinser stresses the importance of taking something from every match, whether it be for the short or long term.

“Having those quality opponents helps show you where you need to improve,” Kinser said.

American is also led by a pair of brothers in Kyle and Jasen Borshoff. Jasen is ranked No. 20 nationally at 125 lbs. and will need to be at his best if he wants any chance at knocking off No. 1 senior Angel Escobedo.

While Escobedo studies all his opponents, he tries not to get caught up in anything on paper.

“I try not to look at what guys are ranked,” Escobedo said. “But I can’t overlook anyone because on any given day, any guy can win.”

The problem that has plagued the American team this season has been its lack of depth. While it boasts nationally ranked wrestlers, it is a mere 2-5 in dual meets this season.  

– Connor O’Gara
    
Women’s tennis
Coach hits milestone against familiar opponent

IU coach Lin Loring has coached in a lot of season openers, but this one will be different. As the Hoosiers take the court against Western Michigan in the first match of a doubleheader and Loring’s 33rd season at IU on Sunday, it will be his 1,000th meet coached.

Loring sees it as just another match, though. He has never placed much stock in his personal career milestones.

“I don’t keep track of my wins and losses,” Loring said. “It’s significant because it’s the first match of the season. That’s the only reason, in my mind, it’s significant.”

Opening the season against WMU is nothing new for the team.

“Their coach is a friend of mine,” Loring said. “They’re usually one of the top two teams in the conference. They’re one of the top non-conference teams in the area.

“A lot of Big Ten teams won’t play them because they don’t want to lose. We said ‘We’ll play you, but it has to be at our place.’ It’s become a tradition to open the season against Western Michigan on the Sunday before Martin Luther King Day.”

Additionally, some of the players from the two teams have already played each other this year in the fall individual season. However, Loring warns to not use those matches as the basis for predicting the upcoming match.

“It might have been your No. 3 player playing their No. 1 player. It’s all mixed up,” Loring said. “We beat them 4-3 last year. We stole a couple matches at the end. We expect this one to be close, too.”

IU will field a much different lineup against Western Michigan than last year’s contest. Junior Katya Zapadalova and senior Lindsey Stuckey will be the only two playing Sunday that played WMU last season.   

Junior Charlotte Martin and sophomore Megan Matter competed against the Broncos last year, but both are sidelined with injuries and will miss the match.

“Hopefully, Megan will be back soon. Charlotte is hitting maybe 10 minutes in practice,” Loring said. “We have to deal with the players we have.”

The Hoosiers and Broncos will face off at 9:30 a.m. followed by a matchup with Butler at 4 p.m.

“We expect the morning match to be the much better of the matches. It will be much better than the afternoon match against Butler,” Loring said. “We always have a good match against Western Michigan.”

– Max McCombs