Coming off a 2017-18 season in which the Hoosiers finished ranked ninth in the nation, the IU women’s swim and dive team will retake the pool in Bloomington for the first meet of the 2018-19 season Wednesday.
It will be a quad-meet Wednesday, with Notre Dame, Missouri and Kentucky all traveling to Bloomington to compete. All three teams finished in the final top 25 rankings from 2018 —Kentucky was 12th, Notre Dame was 19th and Missouri was 20th.
The meet will begin at 10 a.m. at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center.
Last season, IU had a dual meet against Kentucky and won 157-143, and a dual-meet against Notre Dame, which IU lost 123-120.
In its first power rankings of the 2018-19 season, Swim Swam ranked the IU women as the seventh best team in the country.
IU enters this new season with a strong balance of experience and youth. The 2018-19 season will be the last for Olympic gold medalist breaststroker Lilly King, the greatest female swimmer in the history of the program, as well as the final year for diver Jessica Parratto, a former Olympian in her sixth and final year at IU. Parratto took a redshirt as well as an Olympic waiver.
The Hoosiers also brought in a strong recruiting class, with three freshman swimmers featured in the USA Swimming top 100 swimmers 18 years old or younger: Christin Rockway is ranked 38th, Mackenzie Looze is ranked 58th and Ileah Doctor is ranked 60th.
Transfer senior Baily Andison is also projected to be a notable addition for the Hoosiers. Andison is a senior joining the Hoosiers from the University of Denver.
Andison competes in the individual medley. She finished fifth nationally in the 400 meter IM in 2017, and eighth in the 200 meter individual medley in 2018. Andison not only gives the Hoosiers a top swimmer in the individual medley for the 2018 season, but she also will serve as a mentor for Mackenzie Looze, who will be the future for IU in that event.
Kentucky is led by Asia Seidt, who was the only Wildcat woman selected to the 2018-19 USA Swimming National Team. Seidt is a junior from Louisville, who has emerged as one of the nation’s best collegiate backstroke swimmers.
She is a two-time defending SEC champion in the 200 meter backstroke and finished second at the NCAA championships in the event in 2018. Kentucky had seven All-Americans last year, and, including Seidt, five are back this season.
Missouri didn’t lose a lot of production in the pool from last season and is ranked 19th in the nation in the initial Swim Swam power rankings. Annie Ochitwa is one of the better sprinters in the nation, finishing eighth in the 100 meter butterfly at the NCAA championships last season. Ochitwa is one of 10 Tigers to be named an All-American last season — six are back this season including Ochitwa.
Notre Dame brings back all six of its All-Americans from last season: Abigail Dolan, Skylar Fore, Lauren Heller, Carly Quast, Sofia Revilak Fonseca and Kyra Sarazen. However, Notre Dame is not ranked at all in the Swim Swam power rankings and didn’t receive a single vote on any of the ballots cast.
In 2018, the Hoosiers hope for a top three national finish in the final year of the King and Parratto era. Coach Ray Looze and the Hoosiers have a difficult schedule, including Wednesday's meet.
