IU’s No. 7 men’s and No. 12 women’s swimming and diving teams defeated conference foe Ohio State on Friday afternoon at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center in a ranked meet.
The Hoosier men got off to an early lead against the No. 17 Buckeyes. Junior Zane Backes won the 400 medley with a time of 3:11.89 and sophomore Brendan Burns won the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, and 400 medley with times of 47.08 1:44.67, 1:44.87 and 3:11.89 respectively.
The biggest factor during this meet was building off of momentum after a win in the team’s season opener last week, Burns said.
“Michigan and Ohio State are our biggest rivals,” Burns said. “So we were ready to go, we went up early and never looked back.”
The men’s team ultimately defeated Ohio State by a final score 185 to 115.
The women’s team was also successful against their rivals from Columbus, Ohio taking wins in 13 events. Sophomore Ashley Turak won the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and the 400 medley with times of 22.86, 50.11 and 3:40.58. Fellow sophomore Emily Weiss won the 100 and 200 breaststrokes.
Freshman Anne Fowler had a record breaking afternoon, earning an NCAA “A” Standard Score of 356.18 in the 1-meter diving event.
Fowler’s winning score marked the fifth highest score ever posted in a six-dive set by a member of the IU women’s team. She now stands as the third best performer in the event in IU history. Fowler also broke the record of former Hoosier and Olympian Jessica Parratto in dual meet competition in the 1-meter Friday.
On the heels of Fowler’s record-breaking afternoon, the women’s team defeated No. 14 Ohio State by a score of 166 to 134.
The IU men now stand at 3-0 in competition this season while the women currently sit with a 2-1 record after last week’s loss against Michigan.
Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are away from competition next weekend before they will leave for their first away meet against in-state rival Purdue on Feb. 6 in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Hoosier women will also compete against Rutgers on Feb. 6.
