After winning their opening two races Wednesday night, the IU men's swim and dive team continued to impress by winning three titles Thursday night at the 2017 Big Ten Championships.
The race of the night came from sophomore Vini Lanza in the 200 IM final. Lanza won the gold with an IU and McCorkle Aquatic Center record of 1:41.59.
The Hoosiers finished first, second and fourth in the race with sophomore Ian Finnerty taking second, followed by junior Blake Pieroni in fourth. Lanza and Finnerty’s times were good for the NCAA A cut, while Pieroni hit the NCAA B cut.
The Hoosiers also came up big in the 400-yard medley relay by successfully defending their Big Ten crown in the event.
The squad of senior Bob Glover, Pieroni, Finnerty and Lanza took home the gold with a Big Ten, meet and IU record time of 3:03.28. Their swim was also good for an NCAA A-cut time and the fastest in the country this season.
Ali Khalafalla also swam one of the better races of the night, finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle with a school recod of 18.94 seconds. He became the first Hoosier ever to break 19 seconds in the event.
IU was equally dominant on the diving board as junior Michael Hixon took first in the 1-meter springboard, followed by teammate sophomore James Connor in second.
Hixon’s score of 488.65, a meet and pool record, edged out Connor’s 487.50. Hixon and Connor also beat out Purdue’s Steele Johnson, a silver-medalist in the synchronized 10-meter dive at the Rio Olympics this past summer, who set a school record on the 1-meter but still finished fourth in the event.
Competition will begin again Friday morning with the Hoosiers sitting comfortably in first place with 562 points, while Michigan follows with 461.5 points.
Ben Portnoy
