IU women’s swim and dive capped off its season competing at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, this weekend.
Following a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships earlier this month, 13 Hoosiers qualified to compete at the NCAA Championships.
Competition began Wednesday when IU placed 11th in the 800-freestyle relay. Senior Josie Grote, junior Noelle Peplowski, senior Abby Kirkpatrick and senior Laurel Eiber finished with a time of 7:02.42, the 10th fastest time for the event in program history.
Head coach Ray Looze said his team’s finish was one of the best relays he had seen at IU in a tweet Wednesday night.
When the meet resumed Thursday, IU expanded its success to diving as well. Freshmen divers Anne Fowler and Tarrin Gilliland both excelled in their respective competitions. Fowler earned a score of 317.55 and advanced to championship final for the 1-meter dive, while Gilliland qualified for the consolation final after piecing together a six-dive score of 283.20.
Friday saw Fowler and Gilliland with the pair of freshmen earning scores of 323.40 and 327.10, respectively, in the 3-meter dive and both advancing to its consolation final.
In the 400-individual medley, senior Josie Grote swam a career-best time of 4:05.33 to advance to the championship final where she was seeded fourth overall. In the championship final, Grote again beat her previous personal best by over two seconds with a time of 4:05.06. Her time earned her a fourth place finish and made her the third IU woman ever to go sub-4:05.50 twice in the event.
Gilliland built on her previous success from Saturday and advanced to the platform dive’s championship final. The freshman diver moved on after setting a career-best with a five-dive set score of 301.85 points. The Midland, Texas, native hit four straight 60-point dives to close out her card, including a spectacular 75.20 mark on her fourth attempt.
Gilliland entered the championship final seeded fourth Saturday night where she again topped her previous career best. After receiving a 45.60 on her first attempt, Gilliland locked in to earn scores of 76.50, 67.50, 76.80 and 72.00 on her final four dives. The freshman diver’s final score of 338.40 was enough for her to win the championship final and earn an individual NCAA title.
Gilliland’s finish made her the 10th-best performer in event history and the third Hoosier woman to win. She also gave IU its fourth medal in the event since 2015.
On the heels of Gilliland’s individual national championship, the Hoosiers finished the 2021 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in 15th place overall.
IU’s final standing marks a finish inside the top-15 in 13 straight seasons. The team ended the season with 20 All-American honors, including four first-team honors and a national champion.
