“Our goal was to be top 10,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “But 12 was the best we could do with what we had as far as lack of experience and a young squad. At IU, we just always aim for high goals.”
Conner placed second overall in the platform dive, making his 514.80 points the second highest score in school history. He also jumped a career best in the 1-meter dive to place fourth with a score of 437.85, and Hixon scored 430.90 to finish right behind him in fifth.
Hixon also placed second in the 3-meter dive. His prelims score of 494.90 was two points higher than his finals score and is second overall in IU history.
Conner placed fourth overall, but his prelims score was significantly higher than his finals dive. Conner scored 496.80 in the prelims to grab the school record from Hixon’s prelims dive but only scored 471.70 in finals.
“There were a lot of great guys and I’m just happy to be a part of it,” Conner said. “Michael and I are really happy with how we did. It just speaks volumes of the hard work we put in and the direction the program is going.”
Looze said he is proud of his team and how they competed. Other great performances came from the Hoosiers’ 800 freestyle relay team that placed fifth overall with the second-best time in school history at 1:34.41.
Freshman Blake Pieroni recorded the third-fastest time in school history in the 200 freestyle at 1:33.29 to place fourth overall.
“Once the meet starts we have to maximize our strengths, and I feel like we did that to the best of our ability,” Looze said.
This is the first time in the past four years the Hoosiers have not placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships. They have a total of 26 top-10 finishes in school history and placed 10th in last year’s championships.
“I believe our future is really bright,” Looze said. “And I would like to thank the seniors for their years of ?contributions.”
