First day of Big Ten Championship brings record for Hoosier swimmers

Before taking to the pool Wednesday for the first day of the Big Ten Championships, senior Margaux Farrell said the IU women’s swimming and diving team would be dedicating the championship meet to teammate Sara Delay, who is no longer able to swim due to illness.

When the team entered the pool in the Campus Wellness and Recreation Center at the University of Iowa on Wednesday, the Hoosiers came out impassioned and ended the first day of competition in second place with one win out of two races, only four points behind leading Wisconsin.

IU’s lone win came in the 800-yard freestyle relay, when the team of seniors Brittany Strumbel, Farrell and Nikki White and sophomore Lindsay Vrooman finished in a record-setting time of 7:00.82. Not only did the four set the pool record, their NCAA A cut qualifying time also set the Big Ten Championships record, the IU record and the Big Ten record. The Hoosiers’ time of 7:00.82 was also more than two seconds faster than their closest competition, a 7:02.97 time from Minnesota.

In the first event of the day, however, the Hoosiers earned a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:38.74, swum by senior Kim Tracey, junior Ashley Specht, sophomore Stephanie Armstrong and freshman Allie Day. Though the group finished in fifth in a race during which a pool record was set by first-place Wisconsin, the time was still good for the third fastest in IU history.

The Hoosiers are in second place with 68 points through the first two races, and they have the opportunity to earn points in five races today. Action will resume starting at noon, with the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and 1-meter dive preliminaries all taking place.

The finals for those events, plus the 200-yard freestyle relay, will take place beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST.