IU swimmers head to spring championships

The NCAA season is complete for the IU swimming and diving teams, but you wouldn’t know it based on Saturday morning’s practice. \nThe sound of frantic swimming filled Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center as swimming coach Ray Looze paced the pool, urging his swimmers to push harder. As the swimmers touched the wall, they eagerly looked to their coach for their time.\nThe practice was for this week’s spring championships, an individual swimming competition not sanctioned by the NCAA that helps prep swimmers for future competitions. \nFour IU swimmers – sophomore Justin Peterfish, junior Alec Haley, freshman Brittany Barwegen and post-graduate Kevin Swander – will travel to East Meadow, N.Y., for the five-day event. \n“The selection of swimmers for this meet was voluntary,” Looze said at a weekend practice. “We want to take swimmers who are seeking Olympic-style qualifying and can also handle the load academically.”\nThe competition will feature preliminary and finals swims for each event, and the pool will be a 50-meter short course. Unlike the NCAA meets, the spring championships is an individual competition, and there is no team scoring. \nSwander, an IU graduate and first-year student coach, has been training for the 2008 Olympics and is looking forward to this meet. \n“I just like to go out and have fun each time I swim,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get a personal best time and improve my world ranking.”\nSwander will be swimming in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter individual medley. While he would like to place highly in each event, he is concentrating on his times.\n“I think it is easier to focus on getting a good time,” he said, “and then the good placing will follow.”\nPeterfish will join Swander in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke competitions. Haley will swim in the 200-meter breaststroke and the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys. Barwegen will swim the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys. \nLooze hopes the trip to New York will be beneficial for the IU swimmers.\n“This will be good experience for us on the short course,” he said. “Hopefully we can improve some of the swimmers’ national or Olympic standards.”