After a successful meet that saw both the No. 7 Indiana men’s and No. 12 women’s swimming and diving programs beat Ohio State on Jan. 22, both teams returned to competition Saturday for a dual-meet at Purdue.
The Indiana men’s team entered the competition 3-0 on the year after 173-127, 241-59 and 185-115 wins against Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern.
The Indiana women’s team was 2-1 on the year after beating No. 24 Northwestern and No. 14 Ohio State 177-117 and 166-134 and losing to No. 9 Michigan with a final score of 126-174.
The Indiana women’s team also competed against Rutgers on Saturday in dual-meet format for the first time since the Scarlet Knights joined the Big Ten in 2014.
Ohio State was scheduled to compete against Michigan on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. However, because of Michigan's pause on all athletic activities following positive tests of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant, the Buckeyes lost a meet.
Related: [IU swimming and diving sweep Ohio State in ranked matchup]
In the wake of this cancellation, both the Ohio State men’s and women’s programs were added to the Saturday slate in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Because both Hoosier men’s and women’s teams swam against the Buckeyes on Jan. 22, IU and Ohio State decided their competition would not be scored.
Entering Saturday morning, Indiana had won 10 straight dual meets against Purdue on the men’s side and nine straight on the women’s end.
Sophomore Brendan Burns, who swims the backstroke, said he was proud of his team’s recent performances, but still understood the importance of the rivalry matchup.
“It was really important to get the job done against Purdue,” Burns said. ”We went into the meet undefeated and definitely didn’t want to drop our last meet.”
The two Hoosier teams put themselves in position early to continue both long winning streaks against the Boilermakers.
Related: ['It was definitely a huge downer': IU swimmers and divers continue training for postponed Olympics]
Burns swept all of the backstroke events, winning the 100 and 200 backstrokes with times of 1:01:27 and 2:14:21 before ultimately helping lead his team to a 154-145 defeat of its in-state rivals.
The Berwyn, Pennsylvania, native — who has now won seven individual events across the 2021 season — credited his recent success to boosts in practicing ability and confidence.
“I've been practicing much better this year than I did last year, having had an entire year to get used to collegiate swimming,” Burns said. “The better practicing is really showing in my races. I’m much more confident in my racing abilities this year.”
Sophomore Emily Weiss also continued her recent success, taking first place in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes with times of 1:07.27 and 2:14.21 Saturday afternoon.
The Indiana women handily defeated both of their opponents beating Purdue 185-115 and Rutgers 252-22.
Saturday was the last meet for both Indiana teams prior to the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships. The diving championships will be held at Purdue University on Feb. 24-27.
The Big Ten men’s and women’s swimming championships will be held at the University of Minnesota from Feb. 23-27 and at Ohio State University from March 3-6, respectively.
