Swimming for the home crowd

The talk last week wasn't about turns and technique for the women's swimming team, which is preparing for this weekend's Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. \nDays before the biggest meet of the year, the women were thinking about which music would echo through Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center before each event.\nThey're still concerned with the meet -- it's weighing most on their minds -- but music is just one of the perks to staying home and being host to the conference meet.\n"It's going to be awesome having it here," sophomore backstroker Colleen McCracken said. "We have everything here. All our fans are going to be here. It's our school, you know … it's going to be awesome."\nThe meet starts Thursday and finishes Saturday. \nThe advantage of staying in Bloomington is mostly aside from the actual swimming, although the Hoosiers will feel more comfortable in their own pool. \nSophomore Tina Gretlund said she thinks IU will benefit from the knowledge of the pool.\n"You know the blocks. You know the walls," Gretlund said. "There could be a slight difference if you go to other pools. It's definitely an advantage."\nWhen the Hoosiers aren't in the pool this week, they'll be donning artistic hats and creating posters to fill the white walls surrounding the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center. So when the Hoosiers surface from the sea of blue, they'll see a sea of red and white.\nGretlund said she is excited, not nervous.\n"This is a good opportunity to swim even faster with a great crowd behind us," Gretlund said. "It's not pressure. It's fun."\nAnd the Hoosiers will make sure being at home won't be a distraction. To do so, coach Dorsey Tierney is treating the meet like it's on the road, putting the team in the Indiana Memorial Union Hotel starting today.\nIU swimmers and divers will not attend classes, instead focusing on the meet.\n"From Tuesday on, it's business," Gretlund said. "Dorsey is making sure we're all focused on swimming. If we stayed home, I'm sure there would be a lot of calls from friends and stuff, but you can't really do that at the hotel."\nThe Hoosiers (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) might have one distraction from staying at the IMU, McCracken admits. With arch-rival Purdue making camp right beside IU, McCracken won't say what might happen.\n"It'll be interesting," she said with a smile.\nThe swimming championships have been held recently at the IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis Natatorium. Minnesota has won the last two team titles. Before that, Michigan had a stranglehold on the meet, winning an astonishing 12 times in a row.\nThe Big Ten meet was last held in Bloomington in 1998, where Michigan won by more than 140 points. The Hoosiers finished a distant fifth that year.\nFor Tierney, preparation for the 2001 meet has presented the third-year coach with more work, organizing and preparing the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center for the 11 teams and more than 200 swimmers and divers. But Tierney said she doesn't mind longer hours as long as she'll be staying in Bloomington Thursday.\n"It's a little bit more work -- trying to get everything ready to go," Tierney said. "But it's worth it. I'd be glad do the work every year, if we'd have it here"