Indiana women’s swimming and diving failed to make three straight wins as the No. 6 Hoosiers fell on the road to the No. 10 University of Louisville on Friday in Louisville, Kentucky, losing 170-130.
Louisville set the tone in the first race, leading by 15-2 in the 200-yard medley relay — a deficit which the Hoosiers never recovered from.
Senior Anna Peplowski set a Ralph Wright Natatorium pool record in the 200-yard freestyle, earning first place with a time of 1:42.41. Further honors followed for Peplowski, with her and junior Kristina Paegle earning first and second place in the 100-yard freestyle with times of 47.68 and 48.15, respectively.
Peplowski was not the only Hoosier to earn first, as three others also earned top spot in a race. Senior Kacey McKenna and junior Mya DeWitt dominated the backstroke category both earning first and second in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke. The 100-yard had McKenna come first with a time of 52.05, with DeWitt right behind her at 52.24. DeWitt claimed first in the 200-yard with a time of 1:53.89, with McKenna similarly close behind at 1:55.01. Sophomore Reese Tiltmann similarly finished first in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:11.26. Sophomore Lily Witte rounded out the divers with a first-place finish in the 3-meter dive, earning a score of 345.00.
Despite finishing second, Paegle earned the third fastest time in program history in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing only seven hundredths of a second off the record with a time of 21.81. Peplowski rounded out the meet with three first place finishes in total in the 100-yard, 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles.
Despite those impressive performances shortening the gap to 6 at one point, Louisville never took its foot off the gas. The Cardinals had dominating performances in the 100-yard breaststroke, 50-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard butterfly en route to a comfortable 170-130 victory for the hosts.
Indiana will look to bounce back in its next event, which is Feb. 19-22 at the Big Ten women’s swimming and diving championships in Columbus, Ohio.
