Defending Big Ten champs put 2007 title on the line

IU coach Ray Looze does not like to dwell on the past. He never talks about his previous coaching successes nor does he ever compare his current team to past teams.\nSo it comes as little surprise that he believes his team’s Big Ten championship last year has no bearing on IU’s attempt to defend the title this weekend.\n“It’s a different season,” Looze said. “That’s my honest opinion. That was last year’s accomplishment, and we start over. We’re going into this as if we’ve done nothing and we’ve got our work cut out for us.”\nLast year, IU entered the meet as the favorite to win. This year, four teams competing – No. 9 Minnesota, No. 11 Michigan, No. 12 Penn State and No. 20 Wisconsin – are ranked higher than the No. 21 Hoosiers. IU lost several seniors to graduation, and senior diving star Christina Loukas, who won all three diving events in the Big Ten meet last season, red-shirted this year to train for the Beijing Olympics. \n“I don’t think there’s anything more significant about this one,” senior Christie Fuchs said about defending the title. “It’s just another Big Tens.”\nFamiliarity might play a factor for IU in the meet, which runs today through Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. The team has not only competed against several Big Ten opponents this year, but has also had significant success. IU won dual meets against Northwestern and Purdue and won the Notre Dame Invitational over Michigan and Illinois. The victory over then-No. 13 Michigan avenged the Hoosiers’ only Big Ten loss, which came against the Wolverines on Nov. 3. \nThe Hoosiers also have some momentum, despite a near four-week layoff since the last meet. After a 1-4 start to open the season, the team rebounded in 2008 with only one loss.\nJunior Kristin Cihoski thinks the Hoosiers have a chance this weekend to surprise the competition and even her coach. \n“I think it’s going to be a close meet,” Cihoski said. “A lot of people underestimated us and how we were going to do based on our performance earlier, but we really started picking up towards the end.”\nA big reason for the success this semester comes from sophomore Kate Zubkova, who also has the best chance to win an individual title for the Hoosiers this weekend based on her performance this season. A transfer who became eligible in January and has qualified for the 2008 Olympics, Zubkova posted the fastest 100-yard backstroke time in the Big Ten this year. Her 54.02 time automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Championships in March. She added an NCAA B standard time of 1:58.03 in the 200 backstroke and has yet to lose either backstroke events in competition this year.\nThe Hoosiers will rely on freshman distance swimmer Amanda Smith to earn points in the 500 and 1,650 freestyle. She swam her fastest 500 freestyle time (4:47.88) over a month ago at the Notre Dame Invitational, but that mark still stands as the fifth fastest in the Big Ten.\nThe divers, meanwhile, will look to new faces to make up for the loss of Loukas. Freshman Christina Kouklakis will try to repeat her performance at Tennessee where she posted a season-best 282.91 in the 1-meter springboard. The Hoosiers’ No. 1 diver, sophomore Brittany Feldman, will also look to improve her NCAA diving zone qualifying scores in the 1-meter and 3-meter events.