The women started off their home meet against Louisville on Friday with a lead and never looked back. Half the men’s team competed against Evansville the same day. The men got out to an early lead as well.
The women placed first in seven of the 16 events to beat Louisville 170-130. The men did not compete in diving but placed first in all 15 events to beat Evansville 139-104. Junior Brooklynn Snodgrass placed first in the 100 backstroke and the 200 backstroke for the Hoosiers.
“I think that we came in thinking that it would be a little bit of a closer meet,” Snodgrass said. “Winning by that margin was great but you never want to underestimate your competition so we came in thinking that it was going to be a battle.”
The other half of the men’s team competed in a three-way meet the next day in Columbus, Ohio, against Ohio State and Louisville. The men lost to both teams, falling to Ohio State 113-187 and losing to Louisville 151-149. Sophomore Michael Hixon placed first in the 1-meter diving and the 3-meter diving.
Indiana’s other first place finish came from freshman Blake Pieroni in the 200 ?freestyle.
This weekend concluded the dual meets for both men and women. The Big Ten Championships start Feb. 18 in Columbus, Ohio.
Now that the dual meet season is over, practice for the Hoosiers will start to scale back a bit. Junior Haley Lips, who placed first in the 500 freestyle and the 200 freestyle on Friday, will be more focused on the NCAA Championships than the Big Ten Championships. Snodgrass will be more focused on the NCAA Championships as well.
“Haley and I, our main focus is NCAA’s this year, so we wont be tapering that much for Big Ten’s this season,” Snodgrass said. “Our fastest races will be at NCAA’s.”
