IU men’s swimming and diving had a successful start to their season by topping the University of Kentucky and the University of Notre Dame on Wednesday, at the University of Kentucky.
IU beat Kentucky 204-96 and Notre Dame 219-81.
"Good start to the season,” IU head coach Ray Looze said. “Overall, I am really pleased.”
Senior Mohamed Samy swept the competition in his individual events. Samy won the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley. Not only did he win the 200-yard individual medley, but he finished with a time of 1:47.36, more than two seconds faster than Kentucky’s second-place finisher, Glen Brown.
“He had a really good meet,” Looze said. “We made some changes in some training. We have a completely new staff of assistant coaches and they brought some new ideas.”
Freshman Brendan Burns also had a strong performance in the pool today for the Hoosiers. Burns secured the first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly.
Burns also placed first with his team in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:27.55. His other three teammates consisted of junior Gabriel Fantoni, sophomore Zane Backes and sophomore Brandon Hamblin.
Fantoni ended the meet with a perfect performance, placing first in each of his competitions. The sophomore won the 100-yard backstroke (47.22), the 200-yard backstroke (1:45.26) and the 100-yard butterfly (47.96).
After being named an All-American a season ago, Fantoni had a productive first meet. This season will give Fantoni an opportunity to build upon his success from last year.
“We didn’t drop many races at all, I really love this spirit.” Looze said. "They were real vocal and took a lot of individual responsibility.”
The Hoosiers showed what they were made of in their season opener, and they did so without sophomore Michael Brinegar.
Brinegar is taking an Olympic redshirt year, along with diver Andrew Capobianco.
“It’s just a good start,” Looze said. “We got a lot of season left, but for a team that graduated all of it’s top swimmers, I was pleased.”
