Lions end Hoosiers unbeaten season

In a bid to go unbeaten through the regular season dual meets, the IU women's swimming and diving team fell to Penn State in a double dual meet for the third consecutive year.\nThe No. 18 Nittany Lions (6-3, 3-1 Big Ten) defeated No. 19 IU (5-1-1, 4-1-1) 209-159, while the Hoosiers upended Michigan State (5-5, 1-4) 278-90.\nIn the two-day double dual meet, the Hoosiers started out slow as Penn State swept all five swimming events in Friday evening's session, jumping out to an early lead.\nFreshman Erin Smith said Penn State's performance made the Hoosiers re-focus.\n"It showed us that we weren't unbeatable," Smith said. "We got a wake-up call, and everyone knew they had to be more focused."\nIU responded in Saturday's sessions, claiming five event victories while setting three season bests and a new school record.\nSusan Woessner led the Hoosiers, winning both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. Her time of 1:59.01 in the 200-back topped an IU school record which Woessner already held.\n"My 200 time was a lifetime best. It has been my goal to get under two minutes all year," Woessner said. "I knew the (Penn State swimmers) would be good competition. It felt really good and really smooth; it was definitely my best 200 of the year, and I was really excited about that."\nThe Hoosiers were also led by Smith, who won the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 55.60. Smith's victory came over defending Big Ten champion Corrie Clark of Penn State. Clark swam the race in 56.30 to place second.\nSmith also swam the anchor leg of IU's fastest freestyle relay teams in the three different free relay events. Although Smith is only a freshman, IU head coach Dorsey Tierney believes she is the right person to anchor the Hoosiers' freestyle relays.\n"Erin is a good anchor; she likes it there," Tierney said. "The nice thing about Erin is she doesn't set limits for herself. It doesn't matter who she is swimming against -- she knows what her job is, and she is going to do everything she can to do the job."\nSmith and the Hoosiers took first and second in the 800-yard freestyle relay event. Brooke Taflinger, Tina Gretlund, Erin Gorlesky and Smith won the event with a time of 7:31.99. Sarah Fiden, Jinji Fraser, Meghan Medendorp and Erin Rice teamed to place second with a time of 7:34.00, only three-hundredths of a second ahead of Penn State.\nFiden and Rice also swam to a 1-2 finish in the 1650-yard freestyle.\nTierney was pleased with her team's performance and thought the competition from the Nittany Lions would help the Hoosiers in the long run.\n"We were a little complacent to start, but we responded well," Tierney said. "We certainly can't do that four weeks from now (at Big Ten's); we have to be ready to go. Anytime you can compete against the best and you rise to that challenge, you gain more confidence and it becomes more of a habit."\nWhile the Hoosier swimmers faced tough competition from the Nittany Lions, the Spartans provided IU's opposition in diving.\nSpartan Carly Weiden swept both the one- and three-meter events with scores of 312.35 and 303.95, respectively.\nHoosier Sara Reiling posted a score of 311.90 in the one-meter competition, falling to Weiden by only .45 points. Reiling's score was good enough to break her own school record on the one-meter in dual meet competition.\nErin Quinn had a score of 279.20 on the three-meter for IU to take second. Quinn believes the Hoosiers' tough dives will help them in the end once they become accustomed to throwing their lists in competition.\n"I think the dives we are throwing are good, because in the long run they are going to be the most beneficial," Quinn said. "They are just going to take us some time to get used to doing them in meets. I think we've got my list set, and I'm starting to feel really good about it."\nIU head diving coach Jeff Huber said the meet allowed the Hoosiers to get off many new dives as they prepare for the spring championship meets.\nThe Hoosiers return to competition Feb. 2, when they travel to Lexington, Ky., for a dual meet against Kentucky at 11 a.m.