IU in third place at Big Ten swim championship, headed to weekend

Despite another record-setting day at the Big Ten Championships, Indiana’s women’s swimming and diving team has a lot of work to do if it wants a fourth consecutive Big Ten title.

Though IU won three of the four preliminaries held earlier in the day, the Hoosiers were only able to garner one victory in the finals out of the five races, leaving the Hoosiers in third place with 203 points, trailing first place Minnesota by 32 points and second place Ohio State by 19.

Senior swimmer Allysa Vavra set the school record in the 200-yard Individual Medley on Thursday not once, but twice.

In the preliminaries, Vavra finished her heat with a time of 1:56.36, beating her career-best and school record time of 1:56.80, set at the Georgia Invitational earlier this season. Thursday night, during her finals heat, Vavra not only set the school record, but the Big Ten record by finishing with a time of 1:55.44, winning the race as well. Vavra’s time was also good for an NCAA A-Cut Qualifying Time.

After sophomore Lindsay Vrooman won the preliminaries in the 500-yard freestyle race, Vrooman ended up finishing in second in the finals heat with a time of 4:39.64, her career-best time.

For senior Brittany Strumbel, her third-place finish in preliminaries was followed by a fourth-place ending in the finals heat, finishing with a time of 4:41.57, good for an NCAA B-Cut qualifying time. IU’s surprise finisher though was from freshman Lauren Jordan, who posted the fifth-fastest time in the finals with a time of 4:41.86, her career best by nearly a four second margin.

However, Jordan competed in the consolation heat, meaning that her time actually earned a ninth-place finish.

In the 1-meter diving competition, despite senior Gabby Agostino winning the preliminaries and leading with two rounds to go in the finals, Ohio State senior Bianca Alvarez posted two huge scores of 67.6 and 66.3 to defeat Agostino and take the Big Ten title.

In fact, Agostino ended in fourth place with a score of 331.15, still good for a career-best mark. Sophomore Kate Hillman finished in eighth in the competition, senior Christina Kouklakis in 11th and freshman Kathryn Connolly in 15th.

The 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle relay were not very favorable for the Hoosiers, however.

Senior Margaux Farrell was the highest finisher for IU in the 50-yard free with a time of 23.00, good for 12th place overall, and in the 200-yard free relay, the Hoosiers finished in sixth despite earning the third fastest time in school history (1:30.85). That race was swam by seniors Margaux Farrell and Brittany Strumbel, sophomore Stephanie Armstrong and freshman Justine Ress.

The Hoosiers will get their next opportunity to earn points tomorrow in seven events, including the 400-yard medley relay, the 100 fly, breast and back, the 200 free and the 3-meter dive.

The action will begin at noon EST with preliminaries, and finals will begin starting at 7:30 p.m. EST.