The No. 7/9 Indiana men’s and women’s swim and dive teams will look to continue their strong starts to the spring season this weekend when they take on unranked in-state rival Purdue in West Lafayette on Saturday morning.
Last week, the Hoosiers handily defeated No. 15/13 Michigan on senior day to improve to 5-1 on the season. The meet was headlined by redshirt senior diver Andrew Capobianco’s return to NCAA competition for the first time since the 2022 NCAA Championships. The 2020 Olympic silver medalist won the 1-meter and 3-meter events, and head diving coach Drew Johansen said this upcoming stretch of meets will be important for the newly-crowned Big Ten Men’s Diver of the Week.
“We also see that there’s more in the tank,” Johansen said after last week’s meet. “No man is doing dives any harder than what Andrew is doing, and when they all come together — which, hopefully, with these next three dual meets and then championship season after that — we should see him going to a new place. It’s hard to say that he can get better, but he can.”
Another critical contributor who may have more in the tank is senior swimmer Brendan Burns. Burns won three events in the meet versus Michigan, and his victory in the 200-yard butterfly saw him claim the sixth-fastest time in the nation this season with a time of 1:42.11. Burns’ time was achieved despite wearing a training suit.
On the women’s side, the Peplowskis won four events each. Sophomore Anna swept the backstroke events and continued to be a crucial part of the 400 free relay. Her graduate sister and reigning Big Ten Women’s Swimmer of the Week, Noelle, helped Indiana tally a win in the 200 medley and took home both breaststroke events.
Three-time Big Ten Women’s Freshman of the Week Kristina Paegle, sophomore Mariah Denigan and senior Ashley Turak have also had solid seasons and will look to continue their winning ways on Saturday. Junior diver Anne Fowler, who was just named Big Ten Women’s Diver of the Week, is another one to watch. She, like Capobianco on the men’s side, swept the diving events on senior day and has had considerable success this season.
Saturday’s meet will begin at 10 a.m. at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center in West Lafayette and is available for viewing on Big Ten Plus.
