IU men’s swimming and diving completed its season this week at the NCAA championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. IU entered the meet as the No. 9 ranked program in the nation, sending 13 Hoosiers to compete in competition.
IU has finished in the top 10 in seven of the past eight NCAA Championships.IU also had top-3 finishes at the meet in both 2018 and 2019, marking the first stretch of consecutive top-3 finishes in the competition since 1978 and 1979.
Competition began on Wednesday night when the IU team of freshman Tomer Frankel, juniors Van Mathias and Jack Franzman and sophomore Brendan Burns competed in the 800 freestyle relay.
The Hooisers placed ninth in the event with a time of 6:14.68, anchored by Frankel’s personal best lead off split of 1:32.98 in his 200 meter segment. As a team, the four earned the sixth quickest time in the event in program history with Frankel becoming the fourth-fastest performer in the history of the event at IU.
The meet resumed on Thursday with the 400 meter medley for IU. Burns and Frankel returned to competition and were joined by Franzman and junior Zane Backes. The Hoosiers finished fifth with a time of 3:02.38, which was one of five marks to break the Greensboro Aquatic Center pool record and ranks fourth in program history. Brendan Burns swam a leadoff 100 backstroke split of 44.84, which is the second-fastest mark in program history.
Redshirt junior Andrew Capobianco also earned fourth-place and First Team All-America honors in the 1-meter springboard Thursday. His 393.35 point result gives him the highest finish for IU on the 1-meter springboard since Michael Hixon won the national championship in the event in 2018.
On Friday, Capobianco built on his momentum from the night before in the 3-meter springboard. After drilling a 91.80 on his first dive of the night, the junior went on to earn an 84.00, 90.10 and 98.80 to close out the title, winning by 20.60 points. With his career-high score of 505.20, Capobianco won his second straight NCAA championship in the event.
Friday also saw Brendan Burns earn the fastest time in program history in the 100 backstroke, placing sixth with a time of 45.03 His result also earned him individual All-America honors.
On the final day of the NCAA championships, IU excelled in the 1,650 freestyle. Sophomore Michael Brinegar finished 10th with a time of 14:45.50, marking the sixth-fastest mark in program history.
His 1,000-yard split of 8:52.75 is the second-fastest time ever swam by a Hoosier, just missing out on his own school record that he set during the 2021 Big Ten Championships earlier this month. The sophomore now holds five of the top six times in the event in program history.
Following Brinegar's 10th place finish, IU concluded the meet in sixth place overall. The six-time NCAA Champion Hoosiers ended their 2021 campaign with 35 All-American honors and an individual national champion.
