Coming off strong starts to the season from both the men’s and women’s teams, No. 4/6 Indiana swimming went on the road to take on No. 2/2 University of Texas at Austin in a single day two-session dual meet on Friday.
The swimming highlight of the day was the 200-yard backstroke. Indiana swept the event with wins from sophomore Miranda Grana and junior Owen McDonald.
Grana — who posted three NCAA B Cut times at the previous meet and added another at Texas in the 100-yard backstroke — put up the fastest time in the nation thus far with an A Cut time of 1:50.50. McDonald matched Grana’s effort with his own A cut time of 1:38.13, setting a program record and topping 200-meter backstroke 2024 Olympic gold medalist and Longhorn junior Hubert Kós.
Other standouts for the Hoosiers included junior Kristina Paegle and Olympian junior Zalán Sárkány. Paegle joined Grana as the only two Indiana swimmers to win multiple individual events.
Paegle took first in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events, posting B Cut times in both. Sárkány set the second Indiana program record of the day with a 8:39.44 in the 1000-yard freestyle. Despite his time being 10 seconds faster than the previous Hoosier standard, it was not enough to overcome Texas’ Olympian David Johnston, who topped Sárkány by 0.19 seconds.
Seven Hoosier swimmers in the meet were 2024 Olympians, however none of them earned a victory at Texas. 2024 Silver medalist and senior Anna Peplowski had second place finishes in 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle, and fellow Olympian senior Josh Matheny placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke behind Indiana graduate student Jassen Yep.
While Texas was victorious in all the women’s diving events, Indiana men’s diving occupied the top two spots in both the 1 and 3 meter springboard diving events. Hoosier senior and 2024 Olympian Carson Tyler distanced himself from the field, winning the 1-meter by over 50 points, and the 3-meter by over 30 points. Fellow Indiana senior Quinn Henninger took second place in both events.
Despite strong individual performances, Indiana was unable to overcome the Longhorns. The men’s team kept it close and lost 97-89, and the women’s team was beat by a score of 123-63.
Indiana will look to bounce back at the Ohio State Invitational on Nov. 21-23.
