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(10/31/08 2:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 8 IU women’s swimming and diving team will face its toughest competition to date when it travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., this weekend to compete in a three-way meet with Texas and Michigan in a showdown between three of the nation’s premier programs. Texas comes into the meet ranked No. 7 in the nation, while Michigan currently sits at No. 14.“We’re really looking forward to the competition this weekend against some of the toughest teams we’re going to face all year,” said distance coach Mike Westphal. “We’re looking forward to going in there and making a statement.”The 2-0 Hoosiers will be returning to Canham Natatorium, the site of last year’s Big Ten Championships, where Michigan snuck by them to finish second overall. IU finished third.The team wants to prove that this year, they are the better team.“We’re going to go into this meet really aggressive,” said sophomore Amanda Smith. “Michigan beat us in the Big Ten’s last year, so we’re psyched to race them. We’re really determined.”Many Hoosiers have stood out this year, but perhaps none more than 2008 Olympian Kate Zubkova, who won all four of her events in last weekend’s meet against Northwestern. As a sophomore, she finished second in the 200-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard backstroke in last year’s NCAA Championships. She won both events at the Big Ten Championships. Like the team, Zubkova will also be facing her biggest challenge of the year.“It’s going to be really hard for me to win,” Zubkova said. “Texas and Michigan both have really good swimmers in my events. But if I can beat such strong swimmers, I know it will be easier for me to win in the NCAAs.”The team continues to train hard despite the stiff competition, Westphal said, noting that the focus is on the end-of-year meets, the Big Ten and NCAA Championships.“We don’t rest up for anybody throughout the year until the Big Tens,” Westphal said. “We’re just approaching it like our past meets, racing our competition and seeing how many events we can win.”“(The coaches) haven’t let up at all,” Smith said. “It’s still the same intensity. It’s still grueling. We’re all sore and tired, but when we have a challenge in front of us, we won’t back down.”For the second straight week, a Hoosier has been recognized by the Big Ten as an athlete of the week. Last week, Zubkova was awarded Big Ten Swimmer of the Week for her performance against Kentucky. This week, junior Brittany Feldman was named Big Ten Diver of the Week for her strong showing against Northwestern. Feldman won the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, leading a dominant Hoosier diving squad that took places 1-4 in the 3-meter and 1-5 in the 1-meter event.The meet begins Friday night and continues during the day on Saturday.
(10/24/08 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the IU men’s swimming and diving team hosts Northwestern on Friday, IU coach Ray Looze said he hopes his team can duplicate its performance from last weekend, when the Hoosiers dominated Kentucky.“We have such a young team that I didn’t really know what to expect (against Kentucky), and really I have to see that two or three times to believe it myself,” Looze said. “I know we have talent, but I’m interested to see if we can have some consistency.”With a group of young swimmers, the win against Kentucky should provide some confidence as the team opens its Big Ten campaign.“It helped us a lot, giving us a bigger goal to look at for this season,” said junior Chris Head. “We know we can go out and win, and we proved that last Saturday.”Looze said he expects Northwestern to have a young but talented team, much like IU.“They’ve been tough the past few years,” Looze said. “They’ve been in the top 10, and they were top 20 last year. They’ve been a big rival of ours, but they’re kind of in the same boat where they graduated some people and replaced them with freshmen.”Sophomore diver Landon Marzullo earned Big Ten Diver of the Week honors last week for his performance against Kentucky. Marzullo set a pool record on the three-meter board with a total of 421.30 points. He said he hopes he can maintain his poise in the meet against Northwestern“I just have to stay relaxed and keep doing what I did to get myself there,” he said. “I just have to stay focused.”Despite his record-setting performance, Marzullo said he still believes he has room for improvement this week.“There’s a lot of things on three-meter that I could have done better, even though I had a real good meet,” he said.
(10/24/08 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coming off a solid win against Kentucky in its season-opening meet last
Saturday, the No. 8 IU women’s swimming and diving team looks to
continue its strong performance Friday afternoon, when the Hoosiers
host No. 22 Northwestern at 3 p.m.
The Wildcats will present some tough challenges to the talented Hoosier team, said IU coach Ray Looze.
“They’re one of the better teams in the Big Ten this year, and I think
they’re one of the best dual meet teams in the country, so we have our
work cut out for us,” Looze said. “I’d say they’re probably favored on
paper coming into the meet. They can win a lot of events, so our girls
are really going to have to dig down and do some soul searching and
maybe win some races they weren’t expected to win.”
Looze, who describes his team as having an “end of the season focus,”
has increased the amount of yardage in training for the week to its
highest level of the season, while at the same time asking for more
intensity during the workouts. The swimmers have also had a demanding
week in the weight room.
“We just want to go into the Northwestern meet tired and fatigued, and
compete hard,” Looze said. “We want to win, and it’s going to be tough.”
The swimmers themselves feel likewise prepared.
“A lot of people are going to be tired, but I still think we’re ready
to go,” sophomore Ashley Jones said. “Everyone’s always excited when
meets come around, no matter how tired they are.”
The Hoosiers have reason to be excited – in their season-opening win
against Kentucky, the team won 15 of 16 swimming and diving events.
“We all thought we had a really good week last week, and we’re looking
to work hard this week,” said senior captain Abby Cooper. “We’re
counting on our hard work to get us through.”
Junior Kate Zubkova’s performance against Kentucky earned her Big Ten
Swimmer of the Week honors. Zubkova, who won the 100- and 200-yard
backstroke events during last year’s Big Ten Championships and also
competed in the 2008 Olympics, was victorious in the 100-yard
backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley and was
part of IU’s first-place 200-yard medley relay during Saturday’s win
over Kentucky.
Despite the overwhelming victory last Saturday, Looze said the team has
put the past behind it and is concentrating on the task at hand.
“(The win over Kentucky) is in the past, so we’ve sort of forgotten
about it,” Looze said. “We’re just focusing on doing a good job in
practice, swimming fast in practice and having that carry over into our
competition.”
Today’s meet will be the last home meet for the Hoosiers until the Hoosierland Invitational begins on Nov. 21.
(10/17/08 5:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With the women’s swimming and diving team returning all of its competitors who scored points in the Hoosiers’ 10th place finish at the NCAA Championships last spring, the team is poised for even greater accomplishments this year.The 2008-09 season begins at 11 a.m. Saturday as the Hoosiers take on Kentucky at the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in the Student Recreation Sports Center. “We want to take as close to a full squad, which is 18 swimmers, as possible to the NCAA meet,” IU coach Ray Looze said in a statement. “It is the most important meet of the season for this Hoosier team.”Qualifying 18 swimmers for the NCAAs will put the Hoosiers in good position for a strong performance, perhaps even a national title, Looze said.“We want to win a national title, and we are not afraid to say it,” he said. “When it happens, it will be predicated by the talent we have on the team, the desire of the team and the staff to keep striving for that level.”And the Hoosiers have plenty of talent. Senior diver Christina Loukas won the U.S. Olympic Trials and went on to place ninth at the Beijing Olympics in the 3-meter springboard this summer. She has also won two USA Diving National Championships and five Big Ten Championships during her collegiate career.In the backstroke, the dynamic duo of juniors Kate Zubkova and Presley Bard from last year’s team are returning. Zubkova won the Big Ten Championship in both the 100 and 200 backstroke, and finished second in the 200 and third in the 100 at the NCAA Championships.She also competed in the Beijing Olympics for her native Ukraine. Bard was an All-American in both backstroke events last year and placed second in the 100 at the Big Ten Championships. She anchored the 200 freestyle relay team that won a Big Ten Championship last year.Zubkova should also be dominant in the butterfly this season. Last year she placed second at the Big Ten Championships and 16th at the NCAAs in the 100.Junior Donna Smailis finished fifth at the Big Ten Championships in the 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley last year.In addition to the returning talent from last year, the Hoosiers have a strong freshman class led by Nikki White, who finished ninth in the 400 freestyle and 12th in the 800 freestyle at the 2008 Olympic Trials. White is expected to be competitive in every freestyle event from the 100 to the mile.
(10/17/08 5:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU swimming and diving team opens its 2008-2009 season on Saturday with a home meet against Kentucky at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center. Last year the Hoosiers finished second in the Big Ten Championships and posted a 10th place finish in the NCAA meet. This year, IU will field a young but competitive squad, said IU swimming coach Ray Looze.“This may be the youngest team I have ever had,” Looze said. “A lot of the guys we are going to be counting on are freshmen and sophomores. It is going to be critical that our senior class and captains do a good job of setting the tone.”IU lost Ben Hesen, who won the national championship in the 200 backstroke, from last year along with other NCAA point scorers Todd Patrick, John Kevin Koehler, Pat Penoyar and Ronnie Hehn. The Hoosiers do return senior Matt Lenton and sophomore Ante Zoricic, who both took part in the NCAA meet. The diving team also lost key members Taylor Roberts and David Legler, but sophomore Landon Marzullo, defending Big Ten Diver of the Year, returns. In his freshman year, Marzullo won the Big Ten title on the one- and three-meter board and finished fourth at the NCAA meet on the one-meter board. “Landon is probably our top returning diver,” IU diving coach Jeff Huber said in a statement. “But even though he was Big Ten champion, we really want to see him make some major changes. There is no doubt in my mind he can be the best collegiate diver in the country.”
(07/10/08 1:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the third straight Olympic Games, IU diving coach Jeff Huber has been named a member of the USA diving staff. He will be joining IU diver Christina Loukas in Beijing this August.Huber’s first experience with the Olympics came during the 1984 games in Los Angeles, where he coached the Dominican Republic team. He also coached during the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.Although Huber looks forward to working with Loukas in China, he expressed disappointment that another one of his proteges did not make the Olympic cut.“I am also excited to coach at my third Olympic Games, and I look forward to working with Christina,” Huber said in a press release. “I only wish that former IU diver and 2004 Olympian Cassandra Cardinell had made the team as well. She trained very hard the past four years and certainly is good enough to compete against the best in the world.”Huber and Loukas are set to compete at the U.S. National Championships later this month in Pasadena, Calif., before crossing the Pacific.Huber has coached at an international level several times, including a stint as head diving coach at the 2007 World University Games and head coach for the United States for the World Championships in 2005 and 2007. He is a seven-time U.S. National Coach of the Year and was recently named the 2008 Big Ten Coach of the Year.