Hoosiers place 5th at Big Ten Championships

Upon completion of the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette Saturday, No. 7 IU men’s swimming and diving team placed fifth with 449.5 points, 379.5 behind champion No. 4 Michigan. No. 9 Ohio State was second, followed by Minnesota and No. 14 Purdue.

Despite two nights of struggle, coaches and swimmers alike agreed that Saturday night’s action was full of positives.

“We had a really good last day. That was the most important thing for us,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “If we had performed like that all week, we would have placed second.”

Junior Aaron Opell and freshman Eric Ress carried the Hoosiers Saturday night with a pair of second place finishes in the 200-back and 200-breast respectively. Ress broke Michael Phelps’ age group record in the event.  

“I had heard all the hype, I’d talked to alumni and I knew how special it is with how much emotion (Big Tens) evokes,” Ress said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way things went.”  

Having only one A cut for the NCAA Championships in March, the Hoosiers plan to time trial to get more swimmers into the national meet.

“We have to try to get some more NCAA qualifiers,” Looze said. “Next is to get back and do some training.”