The No. 11 IU men’s and No. 16 IU women’s swimming and diving teams brought home 10 individual wins in its first meet of the 2016 season on Saturday at McCauley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
The IU men defeated Georgia Tech, 212.50- 87.50 and Duke 198-102, but fell to Michigan, 176-118.
On the women’s side, IU beat Georgia Tech 227-73, Duke 190-110, but also lost to Michigan 174-126.
“We were pleased with our wins against two really good programs,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “Michigan is a good team, but we thought we had a chance. It wasn’t our best meet and we were a little flat. It’s hard to win a meet without winning any of the relays.”
The Hoosiers recorded 16 NCAA B cut times and two diving NCAA zone qualifying scores.
IU swimmers sophomore Blake Pieroni, senior Tanner Kurz and freshman Lilly King each took home two individual wins for the Hoosiers as they prepare for the Big Ten Championships at the end of February.
“This is a tough time of the year to come out against top competition after the break,” Looze said. “We had the opportunity to face some top NCAA pool teams but we didn’t have the opportunity to pick when we faced them. It was a good meet to get back into the swing of things.”
The meet started off with a second place finish from the women’s 200 medley relay team of sophomore Marie Chamberlain, King, junior Gia Dalesandro and sophomore Grace Vertigans for a season-best time of 1:40.91. The men’s 200 medley relay team with junior Bob Glover, Kurz, Pieroni and sophomore Ali Khalafalla placed third, coming in at 1:28.40.
The goal of this meet was to give both teams a chance to experience the facilities and compete in the same pool where the NCAA Championships are held, Looze said.
“To be able to prepare and swim a competition there will benefit us greatly in the long run,” Looze said. “The pool is completely different in a lot of ways. The fact that we got a chance to experience the walls and different lanes beforehand is huge. We may not have gotten all the results we wanted now, but it’ll pay off.”
In the freestyle swim, senior Haley Lips took home second in the 1000 freestyle while senior Jackson Miller placed second in the 500 and third in the 1000 for the Hoosiers.
Sophomore Kennedy Goss placed second in the 200 with an NCAA B cut and second with a season-best in the 500 free as well.
Pieroni continued to dominate the men’s short-distance freestyle with NCAA B cuts in the 100 and 200.
For the backstroke, Chamberlain placed third in the 100 and Goss took third in the 200. On the men’s side, Glover placed second in the 200 and won the 100 with an NCAA B cut time of 48.23.
In the breaststroke events, freshmen duo King and Miranda Tucker swept the 100, taking first and second for NCAA B cut times with King in at 1:00.91 and Tucker right behind her at 1:00.94. King and Tucker also placed first and third in the 200 as well.
On the men’s side, Kurz had his first victory of the day with a first place finish in the 100 and his second victory in the 200.
Sophomore Reagan Cook took home first with a season-best in the 200 butterfly, followed by Dalesandro in third.
Men’s 200 IM, freshman Ian Finnerty placed third for NCAA B cut time of 1:48.78, making him the 18th fastest in IU history.
In diving, senior Lacey Houser placed second and junior Michal Bower came in at sixth for the one meter. In women’s three meter, Houser brought home second with an NCAA zones qualifying mark, while Bower came in sixth again.
For men’s one meter diving, junior Joshua Arndt was runner-up, while sophomore Cody Coldren placed seventh. In the three meter, Arndt was first with an NCAA Zones qualifying score and Coldren followed in seventh.
In the final event on Saturday, the women’s 400 free relay team of Goss, Vertigans, sophomore Kaitlin Kitchens and sophomore Gabriela Rajic placed third with the seventh fastest time in IU history of 3:26.64.
The men’s 400 freestyle relay team of Pieroni, Tavcar, Khalafalla and Kurz placed second for the fourth-fastest time in IU history at 3:00.06.
With the success on Saturday, there are always improvements to be made but they are getting closer, Looze said.
“We realize we still have work to do,” Looze said. “I think now is the time for our coaches and athletes to realize just how much work this is going to take and how hard this is going to be to get where we want to be at.”
