If someone needed a boost, the team picked them up. If someone needed a kick in the butt, they got it. If someone needed a hug, they got a hug. The team was just on point, IU swimming coach Ray Looze said.
The IU women’s swim and dive team ended the 2017 Big Ten Championships in second place with 1,125 points, and picked up eight gold medals and one silver medal throughout the week.
“Well the bus ride home this time was a lot better than it was last year,” sophomore Lilly King said. “We were definitely a lot more excited with our finish just because the meet was so close this time around and I think we were really able to come together as a team.”
The Hoosiers concluded the five-day competition Saturday with four titles on the day. It marked the end of a highly successful week that included six athletes being named First-Team All-Big Ten.
King was the swimmer of the week after winning three individual titles, a gold medal in the 400-yard medley relay and a silver in the 200-yard medley relay. King was named Swimmer of the Championships for her performance throughout the meet.
“I think my races were much harder this year than they were last just due to the competition that I had that wasn’t there last year,” King said. “So I was just really glad to be able to go best times and pull out the three wins.”
The highlight of King’s week came Friday night in the 100-yard breaststroke, an event she has dominated all season. King broke her American and NCAA record with a 56.30. The meet also marked the second time King has swept the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events at Big Tens.
Other swimmers of note were senior Gia Dalesandro and junior Kennedy Goss. Dalesandro won the 100- and 200-yard butterfly, the latter for the fourth year in a row. Dalesandro was the first Hoosier to win an individual event four times and only 15th person in conference history to do so.
“That was awesome.” Dalesandro said. “That was one of my goals of the season, so to get that kind of out of the way, it was a big relief but super exciting at the same time, and I’m really happy with it.”
Dalesandro also faced Ohio State’s Zhesi Li, who finished second in the 100-yard butterfly. Li was previously suspended for two years after testing positive for EPO, the same substance Lance Armstrong used during his infamous cycling career. Looze compared the matchup to that of King’s high profile battle with Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova at the Rio Olympics.
“She’s big and strong and for Gia, all of 5’5” Gia, to take her out and the way she did it just shooting out front, I mean that was a spectacular swim that just electrified the team,” Looze said.
Goss claimed her third career Big Ten Championship with a Big Ten meet record of 1:50.95 in the 200-yard backstroke. Both swimmers were named First-Team All-Big Ten.
However, the Hoosiers’ success was not limited to the pool. Junior Jessica Parratto took home the 10-meter platform title with a score of 378.60. Parratto won the same title in 2015 but could not defend her crown last year because she elected to take an Olympic redshirt.
The Hoosiers will now play the waiting game to see which swimmers will be headed to the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis. Swimmers will be chosen based on qualifying times after the final conference championship meets conclude.
