Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

sports swimming & diving

IU men's swim and dive wins all four Big Ten season awards

Then-freshman butterfly swimmer Vinicius Lanza, now a senior, competes during the 200-yard butterfly in 2016 at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

IU men's swim and dive swept the yearly Big Ten swimming and diving awards, the conference announced Monday.

Head Coach Ray Looze was named Swimming Coach of the Year and Drew Johansen the Diving Coach of the Year.

Senior Vini Lanza earned Swimmer of the Year and sophomore Andrew Capobianco earned Diver of the Year.

This is the second straight year that both Looze and Johansen have been honored. Both the men's and women’s teams took the Big Ten title and saw record-breaking performances throughout the entire season.

This season marks the fifth time Looze earned the award for the men’s team. He has also won another five times for the women’s program. This was Johansen's third Diving Coach of the Year honor.

Lanza, the newly crowned NCAA champion in the 100-yard butterfly, picked up his first Big Ten Swimmer of the Year award. At the NCAA championships, Lanza was also part of the winning 400-yard medley relay team.

Following the Big Ten championships in March, Lanza became the only man in history to earn Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships three straight years. He will graduate with several Big Ten and national titles, along with 21 All-American honors.

Arguably the most surprising IU victory all season long was Capobianco’s 3-meter dive national title last week at the NCAA championships. The first-place finish with 461.65 points gave him his fourth All-American honor and made him the first man in the IU dive program since 1981 to win the NCAA title in the event.

With his friend and team mentor, redshirt senior James Connor, graduating in the spring, Capobianco will step into a leadership role. For him, the offseason will offer the opportunity to spend time with Connor and prepare himself to lead the diving program in the fall.

“I’ll be talking to James a lot before he leaves,” he said. “I have a lot to learn, and I just want to become the same type of leader that he is because he’s done such a great job with us.”

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe