Swimming team fields short-staffed squad in Hoosierland Open

The annual Hoosierland Open, which usually takes place during the weekend before Thanksgiving, will lose a bit of its luster this year, as about 80 percent of the swim team will be participating in USA Short Course Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.

Even though only about 10 to 12 swimmers will be present, those swimmers will use the open as an opportunity to work on a number of techniques and methods that should help them as the season continues.

“You see where you are right now, and you take the race strategy you did and if it worked,” sophomore Afton Robertson said. “Then you continue with that, and if it didn’t work, then you can go back to the drawing board.”

The entire diving team remains in Bloomington, and the divers plan to put on a show for any spectators.

With junior Gabby Agostino, who has dominated dual meets and has won Big Ten Diver of the Week twice already in the young season, and sophomore Zac Nees, who is attempting a dive that diving coach Jeff Huber said only four or five guys in the country can do, this weekend’s meet could make for another impressive showing.

This weekend, unlike most, the swimmers are competing more against themselves than against an opponent. A phrase that Huber says often to describe this meet is “dress rehearsal.”

“It’s going to be really different because we don’t have a lot of competitors at this meet,” Huber said. “So what we’re going to try and do is use this as a dress rehearsal. The meet that we’re pointing toward next is (USA Diving) Winter Nationals.”

Winter Nationals take place in late January, so the Hoosierland Open marks the beginning of the preparations for that important meet.