Hoosiers dominate in Indiana Invite

Sunday, the third and final day of finals for the Indiana Invitational at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center, the Hoosiers had yet to place first in a single event. That changed in the second to last race, as freshman Murph Halasz posted a 1:49.78 time in the 200-yard butterfly to win the event. \n"I did pretty good," Halasz said. "I was definitely hurting for the last 75, but it's the 200-fly, you're supposed to hurt."\nAs a team, the Hoosiers placed second to the Texas A & M Aggies' team score of 1351 with an 825.50. Rounding out the standings at the six-team invitational were the University of Cincinnati in third (546.5), followed by Evansville (526), the University of Kentucky divers (127) and the University of Tennessee (125). \nIn the 400-yard medley relay, the A relay team came within five hundredths of a second of taking first. The team, composed of sophomore Matt Leach, junior David Schulze, Halasz and sophomore Claes Andersson, posted a 3:23.46 time, second only to the Aggie A-team's 3:23.51 time. \nBut, the 800-yard freestyle relay proved to be the most dramatic event. The Hoosiers led most of the way, as Bryant, senior Heath Montgomery and Schulze ended the first 600 yards with a 4.62 second lead over the Aggie A-team. But, freshman Val Milkov gradually lost the edge, eventually losing the lead in the final 25 yards and missing first by only three hundredths of a second, with a time of 6:46.19. \nFreshman Richard Bryant was the lone Hoosier in the 500-yard freestyle finals amid a field of five Aggies and one Bearcat. Bryant placed second, with a season-best time of 4:29.90. In the 200-yard freestyle, Bryant set another season best, placing fourth with a 1:41.39 time. \nHead coach Kris Kirchner said Bryant always seemed to be getting better. \n"About every time (Bryant) swam, he got a best time," he said. "And every time he swam, he got better."\nIn the 200-yard breaststroke, Schulze maintained a slight edge from the first lap to the opening strokes of the final 25 yards. But Aggie freshman Alfredo Jacobo outraced Schulze's 2:04.19 time by .35 seconds. Schulze also swam to a second place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with a season-best 57.02 time as well as third place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a 1:52.83 time. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Schulze competed against all Aggies, as Texas & M sent seven swimmers to the finals.\n"I had a good meet, a lot of events," Schulze said. "I thought I raced well in all of them. Overall, there's some improvement I need to work on at the end of races, being able to finish better. But that's just going to come with resting at the end of the season. So, right now, I'm happy with how I did."\nIn the one-meter diving event, sophomore Marc Carlton finished in fifth, scoring a 287.60, and junior Adam Hazes finished in seventh with a 248.55 score. Carlton moved up to third place on the three-meter platform, posting a 523.80 score. \n"On the three meter especially, I did some really good dives," Carlton said. "I did some really good things, and, in the ten-meter and one-meter, I just needed to dive like I did in practice." \nCarlton said his gainer two and a half pike dive proved to be his strongest.\n"We competed on Friday, and I nailed it for eights the first time and then in finals, I nailed it again for 7.5s and eights. And, on Saturday, I nailed it again for eights, so I never missed when I did it this weekend."\nIn the collegiate tower competition, dives from the 10-meter platform, Carlton finished in fifth with a 394.20 score. \nHead coach Jeff Huber said the potential for the diving team is very encouraging, regardless of any of the team's performances at the Invitational. \nThe Hoosiers next compete when the swim team takes part in the U.S. Open Finals in East Meadows, N.Y., Nov. 29 through Dec. 1.