The IU women’s swimming and diving team competed in the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, N.C., Thursday through Saturday.
The last time the Hoosiers placed in the top 10 of the NCAA’s was during the 2010 season, making it the fifth time in school history. The Hoosiers were looking to reach that accomplishment once again going into this year’s tournament.
IU scored 126 points, which allowed them to finish 10th place overall, making it the sixth time in school history IU has finished top 10. IU Coach Ray Looze said getting 10th place was a bit of a surprise.
“We were 12th last year with probably a better team on paper,” Looze said. “Before the season started they wanted to win the Big Ten and place top 10 in the NCAAs and they reached one of those two goals. I think not winning the Big Tens sort of pushed them to really go after the NCAAs.”
Freshman Jessica Parratto became the sixth women’s NCAA Champion in IU history by placing first in the platform diving competition. Her score of 367 is the fifth best score in school history.
IU has not won the platform dive since Cassandra Cardinell won it for the Hoosiers in 2005. Parratto won the competition fairly easily, leaving nearly a 30-point gap between her and second place. Her prelims score was only 19 points less than her finals score.
“We were kind of worried because she was so good in prelims and it’s really hard to replicate that in the finals,” Looze said. “But her composure was really good. She just had a lot of composure for a freshman. I know her parents really well and I couldn’t be more proud for the Parratto family.”
Another freshman who has been performing well for the Hoosiers all year is Kennedy Goss. Goss had another outstanding performance in the 200 freestyle by setting a new Big Ten record at 1:44.41 to place fifth overall.
“Kennedy has showed so much promise as a freshman,” Looze said. “I didn’t even know she broke the Big Ten record. That sort of came as a surprise.”
IU was the highest placed Big Ten. The Hoosiers placed one point higher than Tennessee. Looze said it felt good to squeak ahead of Tennessee because they finished in the top three last year and he feels they are a good program.
“What’s even more surprising is that was one of the slowest starts to a meet that I’ve ever seen,” he said. “The first day was really rough but they fought back hard the next few days.”
The NCAA Championships for the men will be held in Iowa City, Iowa, starting Thursday.
