Hoosiers set school record

The Hoosier contingent of juniors Annica Lofstedt, Clarissa Wentworth, Leila Vaziri and freshman Allison Kay set a school record in the 400-yard freestyle relay on the final day of the Big Ten Championships as the No. 16 IU women's swimming and diving team closed out the 2006 Big Ten Championships in fourth place in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend. \nNot only did the Hoosier quartet of Lofstedt, Wentworth, Vaziri and Kay set a school record in the event with a time of 3:19.22, they won IU's first Big Ten title in the event since 1981 and its fourth all-time.\n"It is unbelievable," Wentworth said. "It went by so fast. We went into it wanting to beat Purdue and we beat them and everyone else with them. Annica (Lofstedt) got us off to a good start. We were so excited and so shocked. It is a great way to close out the meet. It was a highlight for me." \nOverall, the Hoosiers netted 495 points, while No. 14 Penn State defended its title with 552 points. No. 24 Minnesota placed second with 536.5 points, while No. 22 Michigan took fourth with 509 points. No. 17 Purdue finished behind the Hoosiers with a fifth-place tally of 428, while No. 11 Wisconsin took sixth with 358 points. Ohio State (258), Northwestern (244.5), Illinois (207), Iowa (163.5) and Michigan State (102.5) rounded out the team rankings. \n"I really like the way we finished the meet," IU coach Ray Looze said. "We had an extremely young team, and it is nice to finish strong. It is a good sign for our future. We have some good young talent. Our seniors did a wonderful job of leading and teaching this year. I am proud of the team. We are close enough to be competitive in the future." \nThe Hoosiers came out on fire in the opening event of the conference championship with a third-place time of 1:41.31 in the 200-yard medley relay. The effort by Vaziri, Stockwell, and Lofstedt not only cleared the NCAA provisional standard in the event -- which gives IU access to postseason competition -- but also stands as the second-fastest time in school history. It missed the record set last year by .07 seconds. \nThe highlight of day two of the Big Ten Championships was sophomore Christina Loukas' defense of her one-meter title from the 2005 Big Ten Championships with a school record-breaking performance of 345.20. Loukas became the first back-to-back conference winner for the Hoosiers since Sara Reiling-Hildebrand won the one-meter and platform events in 2002 and 2003. \n"I was kind of nervous after looking back on last year and how well it went," Loukas said. "I was able to take one dive at a time tonight"