No. 6/9 Indiana swim and dive completed a perfect regular season Friday with wins over No. 22/14 Wisconsin and No. 15/8 Louisville in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
The men picked up a 202-96 win over Wisconsin and a 189-110 victory over Louisville while the women beat Wisconsin 205-95 and Louisville 181-119.
A day of personal, season and program bests began with both the men and women setting season best times in the medley relays, posting 1:22.88 and 1:35.86, respectively. The men’s team of seniors Brendan Burns, Tomer Frankel and Gavin Wright, along with junior Finn Brooks, posted the fourth best time in the country this season.
The wins kept on coming for the Hoosiers, as junior Anna Peplowski won the women’s 200-meter freestyle (1.42.40), junior Rafael Miroslaw won the men’s 200-meter freestyle (1:32.55), junior Casey McKenna won the women’s 100-meter backstroke (51.33) and Burns won the men’s 100-meter backstroke (45.91) to pick up four consecutive wins for Indiana.
IU went into the break with four commanding leads. The men led Wisconsin 91-40 and Louisville 86-45 while the women led 109-41 and 98-52, respectively.
Frankel’s 42.19 in the 100-meter freestyle was not only enough for the win, but a new personal record which is also the sixth best time in program history for the event. Junior Anna Freed also posted a personal best time, 4:10.94 in the women’s 400-meter individual medley.
Indiana took first and second in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke thanks to Brooks (51.34) and senior Jassen Yep (52.10).
The biggest achievement in the swimming events came from junior Ching Hwee Gan, who set a program record with a time of 9:30.07 in the women’s 1000-meter freestyle, beating her personal record and achieving the third-best time in the country this season. Gan also had a dramatic comeback win in the women’s 500-meter freestyle (4:40.30), coming from behind on the final length of the race.
Burns continued his impressive season with wins in the men’s 100-meter backstroke (45.91), 200-meter butterfly (1:40.78) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:40.04).
In the diving pool, Indiana dominated once again. The women had the top three finishers on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, with senior Anne Fowler, junior Skylar Liu and freshman Ella Roselli finishing first, second and third, respectively. Sophomore Max Weinrich swept the men’s events with personal high scores, 388.13 in the one-meter and 428.93 in the three-meter competitions.
After a perfect 8-0 record in the dual meet portion of the season, the Hoosiers now turn their attention to the postseason. They’ll travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the Big Ten Championships from Feb. 28 to March 2 before a short trip up the road to Indianapolis for the NCAA National Championships from March 27 to 30 to close out their 2023-24 campaign.
