Last year, the Hoosiers only had four swimmers and two divers compete in the NCAA Championships and still managed to score 141 points. Their 141 points were good enough for a 10th place finish overall.
This year, IU will have 13 swimmers and divers competing in the NCAA Championships starting today in Iowa City, Iowa.
“I think they’re going to have a really good meet,” IU Assistant Coach Jeff Kostoff said. “We’ve got a young team, but we’ve got some very strong swimmers going there. We’ve got a lot of guys that swam their best times at conference and have really set themselves up to swim well this weekend.”
The Hoosiers placed third overall at the Big Ten Championships last month, which was hosted at the same location as the NCAA Championships. Kostoff said having the same location helps the IU swimmers to be more comfortable at the venue, and he believes they should be fairly comfortable racing there again this weekend.
The Hoosiers swept the diving events at the Big Ten Championships with sophomore Michael Hixon and freshman James Conner. Both will be competing for the Hoosiers this weekend. Hixon currently holds the Big Ten record in the 1-meter diving event with a 474.45 score. Conner holds two school records in the 3-meter with a 494.60 score and the platform dive with a 532.45 score.
IU is familiar with tough competition as its schedule is seen as one of the toughest in the country, and they are one of six teams out of the Big Ten Conference ranked in the top 23.
“This year we have a little more depth,” junior team captain Grayson Smith said. “It will be an interesting matchup, but I think we will be able to place pretty well.”
IU will compete in a total of 13 events, eight individual events and five relays.
“It should be an interesting meet,” Kostoff said. “I will definitely be watching the results every day.”
