IU swimmers finish 13th at NCAA Championships

Heading into her potentially final meet of her collegiate career at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala., senior Allysa Vavra hoped to have one final hoorah in an illustrious career.

Vavra, a senior and an IU record holder in three events, had an opportunity to win three national championships in the 200- and 400-yard Individual Medley and the 200-yard breaststroke after qualifying in the top eight in each event.

Though she didn’t win any of those events, much like the resounding theme of the Hoosiers at the NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers extended their streak to nine consecutive NCAA meets in which the team has finished in the top 15 after finishing in 13th place with 115 points.

“We moved up from last year, so that’s an improvement,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “We would have loved to be top 10 ultimately, but we took a step in the right direction.”

Heading into the meet with 13 members of the team competing, the Hoosiers had a chance to eclipse the record ninth-place finish set in 2005. However, the team missed multiple opportunities to score points in other events.

The Hoosiers had false starts in multiple events, ranging from 400-yard freestyle relay to senior Margaux Farrell in the 100-yard freestyle and sophomore Brenna MacLean in the 200-yard Individual Medley. Sophomore diver Laura Ryan injured her shoulder in the preliminaries of the platform dive after qualifying for the consolation final.

“When you enter the meet, you enter everybody in every possible event they can qualify for,” Looze said. “But if there’s no chance they can score, we pair down. Especially in Laura Ryan’s situation, an athlete’s health is always more important than a place or two in the national rankings.”

However, in a meet where earning points is such a rare opportunity, Vavra capitalized on the opportunities she had. By finishing sixth in the 200-yard IM prelims, second in the 400-yard IM prelims and eighth in the 200-yard breast prelims, she guaranteed the Hoosiers points for the overall competition.

After finishing eighth in the 200 IM finals (1:56.60), fifth in the 400 IM finals (4:01.73) and eighth in the 200 breast finals (2:09.61), Vavra compiled 36 points for the Hoosiers, or 31 percent of IU’s total scoring output.

“I definitely am happy that I placed higher this year and made big finals in all of my events, but I’m kind of disappointed in my times,” Vavra said. “My points really helped our team, though, especially because we only were entered in one relay.”

Sophomore Lindsay Vrooman also improved her standing from the 2011 NCAA Championships, where she finished 26th in the 500-yard freestyle and 28th in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

This meet, the sophomore finished eighth in the 500-free in a time of 4:42.13, and then sixth in the 1,650-free in a time of 15:56.85, making her a two-event All-American in the process.

“It’s been a huge improvement, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer person,” Looze said. “Our team was so excited for her success. A year ago at this time, she set her mind to certain goals that she wanted to accomplish for the collegiate season, and it’s safe to say she was one of our hardest workers.”

The Hoosiers were also able to earn points through the diving portion of the competition, as Ryan finished 12th in the 1-meter dive with a score of 307.55 and eighth in the 3-meter dive, scoring 330.40 in the process. In addition, junior Amy Cozad placed third on the platform dive, finishing with 329.35 points on a total of only five dives.

“Personally, I am very proud of myself and Laura for how we did,” Cozad said. “It was really cool to come back from the World Cup and show everyone that we’re good individually, too. I think we redeemed our London performance, in a way.”

Though the collegiate season has ended for the Hoosiers, and the team will lose the likes of Farrell, Brittany Strumbel and Nikki White on the swimming end, the Hoosiers will add a top-13 recruiting class and could retain Vavra next season.

“There’s a possibility Allysa could get another year of eligibility, so she’s not necessarily done,” Looze said. “I think we have a great foundation in place. We’re extremely excited about our future, so I’m very optimistic.”