Men's swim and dive prepares for NCAAs

After a second-place finish at the men’s Big Ten Championships, four swimmers and two divers from IU’s men’s swimming and diving team will compete at this weekend’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas.

They will try for a third consecutive top-10 finish.

Last year, the Hoosiers placed ninth, their highest finish since 1980 and with their highest point total (201) since 1975.

IU Coach Ray Looze said this year they will rely on quality rather than quantity.

“We’ve got less people here than we did last year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll score less points,” he said. “We’re not as deep, but I believe we’ve got pretty good quality.”

IU will have a total of nine competitors. Freshmen Max Irwin and Anze Tavcar and sophomore Tanner Kurz are relay-only swimmers.

Senior Eric Ress enters the meet as the top seed in the 200-yard backstroke. He has the top five times in IU history in the event and most recently won the Big Ten title.

Ress said despite high expectations, he will treat the race like any other. He said, more than anything, relays will be important to the team’s success.

“The mentality for the guys as a whole is really geared toward relay performances,” Ress said. “That’s where you get the most points. And rather than just swimming for ourselves, we’re swimming to try to get the most points individually as we can to contribute to the team score.”

At the 2011 NCAA Championships, Ress was runner-up in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke.

This year, he is joined by junior Steve Schmuhl and seniors Cody Miller and James Wells as the four individual qualifiers.

Schmuhl, Miller and Ress are returning All-Americas from 2013.

Miller said the team’s preparation since the Big Ten Championships stands out from previous years.

“Last week everyone was hitting the fastest pace times we’ve ever seen,” he said. “We have four individual qualifiers this year, and all of us have been in A finals at this meet in previous years. The team is more prepared than we have ever been
before.“

Senior divers Darian Schmidt and Emad Abdelatif will compete in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard competitions. They qualified at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships.

Schmidt was the Big Ten Champion in both the 1-meter and 3-meter and was named Big Ten Diver of the Championships for the third consecutive year. This is Abdelatif’s second trip to the NCAAs.

The team arrived at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center at the beginning of the week.

Looze said having a few days at the pool before the meet starts is crucial for both mental and physical preparation.

“NCAAs are such a brutally punishing meet from the event load to the intensity,” he said. “You have to take everything into consideration, making sure that we are completely well-rested going into this. This is one of the only meets where an Olympian can get beat around.”

The Hoosiers will compete for the 25th top-10 finish in IU history.

Looze said he looks forward to how his swimmers will take advantage of the opportunity to swim at a national meet.

“This has the least margin for error of any meet I’ve ever been to,” he said. “It really just matters what you do here in any given year. Right now, this book is yet to be written.”