Thanks to his stellar performance at the USA College Challenge this past weekend, collegeswimming.com has named IU junior swimmer Blake Pieroni the national swimmer of the week.
At the USA College Challenge Pieroni won the 100 and 200-yard freestyle. He swam the 100 in 42.40, good for the fastest time in the country this season. Pieroni also swam the fastest 200 freestyle in the country when he kicked off the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay with a split of 1:33.74, the fastest NCAA time this season.
Pieroni followed up his strong Saturday with the 200-yard freestyle Sunday. He won the event easily with a 1.33.43 and beat the time he set Saturday as the fastest 200-yard freestyle of the year. Pieroni also beat out IU grad swimmer Zane Grothe, who finished second in the event.
IU swimming will be back in the pool in a few weeks with several Hoosiers competing at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, and the rest of the team will be competing at the Miami (OH) Invitational on Dec. 1-3.
Ben Portnoy
