The IU men's swimming and diving team closed out day four of the 2017 Big Ten Championships by winning its 25th conference title.
The day was marked by more impressive results from junior Blake Pieroni and sophomore Vini Lanza.
Pieroni defended his title in the 100-yard freestyle with a conference, Big Ten meet and IU record of 41.44 seconds. He also became the first IU swimmer to break the 42-second mark in the event.
Lanza continued his incredible week with a win in the 200-yard butterfly. The sophomore from Brazil swam a 1:40.97, good for an IU and McCorkle Aquatic Center record. Lanza was also named Swimmer of the Championships after winning four gold medals and one silver over the course of the week.
Other major results of note included senior Bob Glover’s gold medal in the 200-yard backstroke. Glover finished second in the event last year, but with a personal-best time of 1:41.25 he was able to take home the victory this time around.
The Hoosiers closed the night with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Pieroni, senior Anze Tavcar, junior Ali Khalafalla, and sophomore Mohamed Samy set a conference, meet, IU and pool record with a time of 2:48.29. The victory also gave IU four relay victories on the week, the most in school history.
The Hoosier divers also closed their championships strong as junior Michael Hixon finished his successful week with a sixth place finish in the 10-meter platform dive. Hixon came up big for the Hoosiers all week and won both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
The Hoosiers who qualified will be back in action beginning March 9 with the Zone C NCAA Diving Championships in Bloomington, while the swimmers will compete next on March 22 for the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.
Ben Portnoy
