If the IU men's swimming and diving team looked as if it was on the rise after a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships this year, the team's plethora of top-tier talent has just been added to.
Zach Apple, a World Championships Gold Medalist and 13-time All-American from Auburn, has transferred to IU for his senior season according to swimswam.com.
At the NCAAs this year, Apple finished in the top 10 in all three of his individual events for Auburn. He took third in the 200 freestyle, fifth in the 50 freestyle and ninth in the 100 freestyle.
The addition of Apple will help make up for the absence of Blake Pieroni, who graduated as one of the best swimmers in the nation. Pieroni picked up seven All-American accolades in all seven of his events at the NCAA Championships, including the three races Apple competed in.
Apple may also be asked to fill in on the 400 medley relay team, which placed in first at the NCAAs, and will return three of its swimmers — Gabriel Fantoni, Ian Finnerty and Vini Lanza. He would replace none other than Pieroni, who swam his split in 40.6 seconds. Apple's best overall time is 41.3 seconds.
"They've been doing some really great things," Apple said in an interview with swimswam.com. "Their team has been improving at a pretty fast rate and it seems like they're doing stuff right in the pool over there."
The Hoosiers are graduating just eight of their 43 swimmers and divers on the men's team, so adding Apple will aid their chances of trying to capture an NCAA Championship after coming up short by just 27 points this season.
Dylan Wallace
