Coming off a solid win against Kentucky in its season-opening meet last
Saturday, the No. 8 IU women’s swimming and diving team looks to
continue its strong performance Friday afternoon, when the Hoosiers
host No. 22 Northwestern at 3 p.m.
The Wildcats will present some tough challenges to the talented Hoosier team, said IU coach Ray Looze.
“They’re one of the better teams in the Big Ten this year, and I think
they’re one of the best dual meet teams in the country, so we have our
work cut out for us,” Looze said. “I’d say they’re probably favored on
paper coming into the meet. They can win a lot of events, so our girls
are really going to have to dig down and do some soul searching and
maybe win some races they weren’t expected to win.”
Looze, who describes his team as having an “end of the season focus,”
has increased the amount of yardage in training for the week to its
highest level of the season, while at the same time asking for more
intensity during the workouts. The swimmers have also had a demanding
week in the weight room.
“We just want to go into the Northwestern meet tired and fatigued, and
compete hard,” Looze said. “We want to win, and it’s going to be tough.”
The swimmers themselves feel likewise prepared.
“A lot of people are going to be tired, but I still think we’re ready
to go,” sophomore Ashley Jones said. “Everyone’s always excited when
meets come around, no matter how tired they are.”
The Hoosiers have reason to be excited – in their season-opening win
against Kentucky, the team won 15 of 16 swimming and diving events.
“We all thought we had a really good week last week, and we’re looking
to work hard this week,” said senior captain Abby Cooper. “We’re
counting on our hard work to get us through.”
Junior Kate Zubkova’s performance against Kentucky earned her Big Ten
Swimmer of the Week honors. Zubkova, who won the 100- and 200-yard
backstroke events during last year’s Big Ten Championships and also
competed in the 2008 Olympics, was victorious in the 100-yard
backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley and was
part of IU’s first-place 200-yard medley relay during Saturday’s win
over Kentucky.
Despite the overwhelming victory last Saturday, Looze said the team has
put the past behind it and is concentrating on the task at hand.
“(The win over Kentucky) is in the past, so we’ve sort of forgotten
about it,” Looze said. “We’re just focusing on doing a good job in
practice, swimming fast in practice and having that carry over into our
competition.”
Today’s meet will be the last home meet for the Hoosiers until the Hoosierland Invitational begins on Nov. 21.
Northwestern strokes into Bloomington on Friday
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