IU prepares for double-dual meet

The IU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will face three competitors at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.

The Hoosier men will be pitted against the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Iowa Hawkeyes in a double-dual meet, while the Hoosier women will compete against Notre Dame.

“Our team wants to win the meet and stay tough in our races,” junior Lindsay Vrooman said. “This will be our first meet in a while so it’s going to be very hard for a lot of us, but as long as we stay mentally and physically tough throughout the meet I’m sure we’ll all be happy with our perfomance.”

Although Notre Dame has some fast women, team depth and a shared enthusiasm to compete will be an advantage for the IU women’s team.

“We have done a really good job swimming fast in season thus far,” senior Ashley Specht said. “Girls are posting times that we would usually see in taper meets.”

Not only are the swimmers prepared to add some wins to the record this weekend, but the IU divers also trained intensely during winter break for the meet and the remainder of the season.

In addition to IU competing at home, the men have a bigger diving team than OSU and Iowa combined.

Compared to OSU’s six divers and Iowa’s seven, IU has 13 divers on the roster.

By avoiding travelling and the adjusting to the facilities, the Hoosier swimmers and divers face few disadvantages when competing at home. 

“Our biggest weakness right now is going to be our energy level for the weekend,” senior Mick Dell’Orco said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of hours and really ramped up the intensity over break.”

Vrooman said the training was an integral part of the goal-making process.

“Our winter break training will definitely reflect on our performance at Big Tens and NCAAs,” Vrooman said. “Our team goals still stayed the same, and winter break training was a good time to remind ourselves of those goals.”

Veteran swimmers like Vrooman and Specht paired with a deep freshman class have established a strong women’s team this year.

“I can’t even describe to you how awesome this group of girls are,” Specht said. “We all walk into practice with a smile on our face and we all want to train fast.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Steve Schmuhl returns from a successful winter break. Schmuhl finished 12th in the 400-meter individual medley Dec. 13 at the 2012 World Short Course Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

Redshirt senior Jim Barbiere is also set to compete in an international competition beginning on July 10 in the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

The IU men’s swimming and diving team’s next competition will be at 5 p.m. Feb. 2 in Louisville, Ky., while the women’s team will compete against the Boilermakers at noon Jan. 26 in West Lafayette.