Purdue meet could save year

With a disappointing regular season coming to a close, the IU men's swimming and diving team has renewed incentive to get that competitive fire going before the Big Ten and NCAA Championships begin in March. \nThe reason? \nArch rival Purdue will be coming to town this Saturday.\nHaving beaten them two years in a row, including last year in West Lafayette, the Hoosiers (4-7, 2-4 Big Ten) will try to end their dual meet schedule on a high note. In a season plagued by injuries and close defeats, the idea of winning against the Boilermakers has the squad excited for the upcoming meet.\n"It's a big rivalry, and all the guys are pretty pumped up about it," freshman freestyler and backstroker Mike Anderson said. "It's not really preparing differently in practice or anything, but I think mentally the guys are taking more of an intense approach."\nLuckily for the Hoosiers, their recent performance has been strong. Despite the record, they defeated Big Ten rival Iowa, while falling to Minnesota in a tri-meet on Jan. 17 in Iowa. The effort put forth by freshman freestyler Colin Russell, as well as sophomore breaststroker Kevin Swander, has been cause for optimism among the squad. Secondly, the point totals accumulated by the squad during meets is essentially without any chance of winning the diving events, as junior Ryan Fagan has been the only IU diver eligible to compete in competition this season. Russell, coming off of the tri meet in which he won the 500-yard freestyle event and finished second in the 200, said that he expects big things for himself this Saturday.\n"I think I'll swim a lot faster this time because in the last meet I did really well and I was sick," Russell said. "I've been decreasing the meters I've been swimming, and I should start doing a lot better and start getting the times I should be getting."\nAlthough the collegiate schedule is reaching its end, the coming months will be far from the off-season for Russell, who is trying to qualify for the Canadian Olympic Team this summer in Athens, Greece. For those who will not be in the Olympic Trials, training will continue throughout the summer months here in Bloomington. Although its not required, the extra training and experience one can gain can prove to be invaluable when competition starts up again.\n"I want to try and improve my versatility and try to contribute a little bit more next year," Anderson said of his goals for the summer. "Every swim season, whether it be summer or winter, you want to get better. There really is no off-season, swimming is a year-round sport."\nAs for the meet on Saturday, the Hoosiers will have to be weary of Purdue's Louis Paul and Eric Prugh in the freestyle event, as they are both ranked in the top 20 in the 200-yard freestyle in the conference. Paul, also eighth in the conference in the 1000-yard backstroke event, will go head-to-head against IU senior Matt Leach, who is 15th. Despite the rivalry and the stiff competition, however, it was business as usual for Leach this week.\n"We're just preparing, getting everything ready and focusing on the fundamentals of swimming," Leach said. "We're just getting everyone ready to swim."\n-- Contact staff writer Scott Lipsky at slipsky@indiana.edu.