The Indiana women’s swim and dive team’s season came to an eventful close Saturday at the NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hoosiers will return to Bloomington with three All-Americans, including one national champion, following the four-day meet.
Sophomore Tarrin Gilliland won the platform dive national championship and was one of two qualifying athletes in the country to compete in all three of the diving events. With the victory, Gilliland became the first Indiana diver to win multiple platform dive national titles after taking home the title last season. Gilliland finished the platform event with a score of 372.95 over five dives.
Indiana head diving coach Drew Johansen said he was happy to see Gilliland compete so well.
“Tarrin was spectacular tonight,” Johansen said. “She ran into a little adversity in that second round, and then came back like a champion. On that fifth round, when the opportunity came, she nailed it for nines, and it was game over.”
Gilliland wasn’t the only bright spot on the diving side for the Hoosiers. Senior Kristen Hayden finished in second place in the 3-meter dive with a score of 397.20. Hayden and Gilliland became the first Indiana diving duo to finish in the top three of the same event since 2009. Gilliland finished one spot below her teammate with a score of 382.00.
Related: [Indiana women’s divers Gilliland and Hayden move on to the NCAA Championships]
Johansen said he was pleased to have two divers on the podium despite not taking first.
“In the last round, there were three ladies who could have won the gold, and both of ours hit their dives and ended up in second and third place, which is just fantastic,” Johansen said. “The winner (Minnesota senior Sarah Bacon) is one of the best in the world, and we were right there with her.”
In the lap pool, Indiana didn’t bring home any individual championships, but many of the team’s athletes had big days in Atlanta.
The Peplowski sisters competed in the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke for the Hoosiers. Freshman Anna Peplowski beat her B final seed to place top-10 for the first time in her career with a time of 1:43.57. Her older sister, senior Noelle Peplowski, finished in 16th place with a time of 59.71 and received honorable mention All-American honors.
Senior Mackenzie Looze finished her year with a career-best time of 2:07.04 in the 200-meter breaststroke and received All-American honorable mention honors as well. Freshman Big Ten bronze medal recipient Ching Hwee Gan finished in 10th place in the 1,650-meter freestyle with a time of 16:02.68.
Head swimming coach Ray Looze expressed his elation with the Hoosiers’ performance.
“Our staff is incredibly proud of our team tonight,” Looze said. “We had a fantastic final session, highlighted by Tarrin’s national championship in platform. Our efforts resulted in an outstanding 11th place national finish, and we are super excited about our future.”
