IU swimmers and divers have been receiving weekly Big Ten honors all season long, which comes with the territory of being one of the best teams in the Big Ten, let alone the nation.
This week was no different from the rest of the season as four more Hoosiers earned Big Ten weekly honors.
Senior Blake Pieroni has been the leader of the team all year as he racked up his fifth Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Week award this season.
Pieroni lead the Hoosiers to a win over No. 8 Michigan in Ann Arbor for the first time since 1980-81. He claimed three individual events — 50-meter freestyle (19.60), 1000-meter freestyle (42.94) and 200-meter freestyle (1:33.88) — and was a member of the winning 400-meter freestyle relay (2:54.83).
Both the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Diver of the Week went to the Hoosiers, as junior Jessica Parratto won the award for the third time this year and junior James Connor for the first time.
Parratto was her normal self, winning both the 1- and 3-meter diving events in Ann Arbor with scores of 328.40 and 334.50, respectively.
Connor also impressed — fresh off taking gold in the 3-meter at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Trials in Australia, he won the 1-meter dive (414.65) and placed third in the 3-meter (401.15). Connor was also the only diver to post two scores above 400 points in the meet.
The last distinction went to the Hoosier newcomer, freshman Gabriel Fantoni, who was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Fantoni just joined the IU squad during winter break and impressed during his first meet for the Hoosiers after competing in four events. His lone victory came in the 100-meter backstroke (47.63). However, he placed third in the both the 100-meter butterfly (47.97) and 200-meter backstroke (1:45.85).
In new College Swimming Coaches Association of America rankings, both the IU women and men moved up in the polls since the last rankings were announced on Dec. 6, 2017.
The IU men have risen by one to No. 3 after their most recent win over No. 8 Michigan.
Despite losing to No. 2 Michigan, the IU women have also risen by three spots to No. 7 in the country.
TC Malik
