Auburn proves too much for young Hoosier swimmers
\nThe Auburn Tigers proved to be too hot for the Hoosiers' swimming and diving team to handle as the team displayed their dominance with a 165-124 win over IU Friday in Auburn, Ala. The Hoosiers' opposition showed that a sizeable amount of talent has carried over from last year's squad, which finished as the NCAA runner-up.\nThe Tigers acquired 11 titles in the meet, overshadowing the Hoosiers' five. But it was IU divers who swept the diving titles, highlighted by the performances of sophomore Christina Loukas and junior Lindsay Weigle. Loukas, the defending Big Ten Diver of the Year, scored a 294.90 to seize the one-meter crown. Weigle recorded a 302.47 dive to capture the three-meter title. IU's diving squad left the meet with an impressive eight top-five finishes against the Tigers.\n"We had a lot of new dives today," IU head diving coach Dr. Jeff Huber said. "We had some bright spots today. We are going to take some things home from the meet and use it as motivation and inspiration to work a little bit harder to perfect them."\nJuniors Leila Vaziri, Annica Lofstedt, Clarissa Wentworth and senior Kristen Bradley represented the essential experience and leadership of the IU squad with a fanatic win in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:36.27.\nAccording to IU head coach Ray Looze, even some of the youngsters proved themselves against an intimidating Auburn team. Freshman Allison Kay showed a glimpse of the future after nabbing the 100-yard butterfly title in 55.82. \n"I thought our women showed up tonight," Looze said. "Our freshmen swam well, and our veterans did the same ... Everyone swam as well as they could, but we are a bit thin and very young. I was proud, however, how everyone reacted. We were not afraid of them, which is nice to see."\nThe Hoosiers will look to bounce back when IU crosses paths with the defending Big Ten champions, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Oct. 29 in Minneapolis. \n
Women finish mid-pack at Pre-NCAAs
\nDespite two weeks of good training, the IU women's cross country didn't appear to be in peak form Saturday. The team traveled to Terre Haute this past weekend and took on 34 other teams in the Blue Division.\nThe 17th place team finish was a nine spot drop for the Hoosiers, who finished eighth in the same Pre-NCAA meet last year. Junior Jessica Gall paced the IU women, finishing in the 40th position with a time of 21:09. Close behind were junior Lindsay Hattendorf and senior Larra Overton who finished 46th and 54th respectively.\nIU head coach Judy Wilson thinks that although the field was highly competitive and the team did not place where it would have liked, that the Hoosiers can still turn things around in time to have a successful season. \n"I feel like we had a little deeper race than the other division did," Wilson said. "I know we are right there. I feel good with our top three runners and we have three others who have been running with the top three in practice. From one race to the next, a light goes on and things can change quickly. We are going to go to Minnesota and try to finish in the top five at the Big Ten Championships."\nBoth the Big Ten Championship meet and the regional meet, which the Hoosiers are hosting, are critical. These meets are the last opportunities for a team to improve their statistics, or in IU's case, make a statement that it deserves an invitation to the National Championship meet.\n
Hoosier men finish 8th at weekend meet
\nIn their first race as a full squad, the Hoosiers finished 8th in a field of 33 teams Saturday morning in Terre Haute. The race served as a preview of the NCAA Championships, set for the week of Thanksgiving. \nThe meet served as the season debut for former All-Americans Sean and John Jefferson and Stephen Haas. The trio gave IU strength up front, taking the first three spots for IU. Sean Jefferson, a two-time All-American in cross country, put in IU's top performance, rallying for a 16th-place finish, with a time of 24:08. In a race where bunches of runners finished with the exact same times, twenty seconds later saw Haas cross the line in 41st with John Jefferson in 43rd. \n"I was pretty happy with my time, but I'd liked to have finished higher," Sean Jefferson said. "Still, overall I'm pretty happy with the race, considering it was my season debut."\nFollowing twenty-five seconds later were senior Eric Redman and true freshman Tim McLeod, both finishing in 24:53 in 80th and 81st respectively. Redman and McLeod rounded out IU's scoring.\n"Tim ran pretty well, but we'll need him to improve, too," said Sean. "I think we can all run 15-20 seconds better per man at Big Tens."\n
Women's golf finishes 6th at Penn State
\nThe IU women's golf team has concluded its fall season with a sixth-place tie at the Lady Lion Invitational this past weekend at State College, Pa.\nThe wind played a huge factor at the Penn State Golf Course as IU carded a 617, seventeen shots off from tournament winner University of California-Irvine.\n"Overall, I think the team played really well in some pretty rugged conditions," IU head coach Clint Wallman said in a statement. "The wind was blowing and was difficult to deal with. The team handled it pretty well. That can only benefit us going into the spring."\nSophomore Elaine Harris, who has had a number of impressive outings in the fall, paced the Hoosiers with a 148, good enough for a fourth-place tie. Harris has continued to improve upon her finish at the Lady Northern Invitational at IU and has drawn the praise of coach Wallman.\n"I am really proud of how Elaine played and her efforts this weekend," Wallman said. "She continues to improve and show she is a player that is capable of winning at the collegiate level."\nSenior Shannon Johnson fired a 154 (78-76), good enough for 20th, while freshman Amber Lindgren tied for 28th by shooting a 157 (78-79). Senior Katie Carlson was in a tie for 40th by recording a 160 (77-83). Freshman Tiffany Hockensmith carded a 162 (81-81) and Senior Molly Redfearn rounded out the Hoosier effort with a 168 (86-82).
