Last season, a one-point win for the IU women’s swimming and diving team could’ve easily been a 10-point loss.
The team had just one diver competing for the majority of the season, leaving most of the scoring to the swimmers.
That’s not the case this year, and it showed Saturday in Madison, Wisc. Freshman diver Jessica Parratto and junior Lacey Houser placed second and third, respectively, in the 1-meter event to help give IU a 174-173 win over the Badgers.
It was one of four team victories for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams over the weekend. The women also defeated Notre Dame decisively 255-98. For the men, it was a 202-151 win against Wisconsin and 271-82 win against the Fighting Irish.
In 3-meter diving, IU went 1-2-4-5. Sophomore Michael Hixon was first with 433.65 points, and freshman James Connor was right behind him with a 424.55 total.
Hixon made it a sweep of the diving events, also winning the 1-meter on Friday night. His score of 444.20 set a new school record, breaking the old mark of 432.15 set by former Hoosier Darian Schmidt at the 2013 Big Ten Championships.
The two teams combined for 13 victories on just the first day of competition. It included wins from Houser on the 3-meter, freshman Kennedy Goss in the 1,000-yard freestyle, senior Haley Lips in the 200-yard freestyle and junior Brooklynn Snodgrass in the 100-yard backstroke.
The women went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard butterfly with sophomore Gia Dalesandro claiming gold. They also took the first three spots in the 200-backstroke. Snodgrass was first in an NCAA-B Cut time of 1:58.21.
On the men’s side, sophomore Anze Tavcar took first in the 50-yard freestyle, and sophomore Max Irwin finished first in both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Blake Pieroni won the 100-freestyle in 44.82 seconds.
Pieroni, Irwin, junior Tanner Kurz and sophomore Glover finished the meet with a win in the 400-yard medley relay.
The Hoosiers return to action this weekend in West Lafayette against Purdue.
Grace Palmieri
