Fresh off a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships and a repeat victory at the Big Ten Championships, Indiana men’s swim and dive swept the Big Ten postseason awards. The honors were announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Ray Looze was named Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year, Drew Johansen was named Big Ten Men’s Diving Coach of the Year, senior Brendan Burns was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and graduate Andrew Capobianco was named Big Ten Diver of the Year.
Looze has now earned the honor 12 times over the course of his career, and this is his seventh time doing so on the men’s side. He has won back-to-back men’s honors and six of the last eight. His constant emphasis on relay events paid off, as all five of Indiana’s relays finished in the top 10 at the NCAA meet. The Hoosiers had four of the Big Ten’s top five swimmers at the national meet, and the top scorer was Burns with 46 of the swimmers’ 275 points.
Burns has earned the title of Big Ten Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive year after winning the 100-yard backstroke at the NCAA meet and finishing in the top 10 in every event he swam. He tallied a program-record time of 43.61 in the 100 back, which currently stands as the third-fastest time in NCAA history. He was also an integral part of the 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay, with all three of those teams finishing in the top five.
Capobianco is now a four-time Big Ten Diver of the Year, and he has won the last three consecutively. The Hoosier diver is the second diver in the conference to win the award four times, with the only other athlete to do so being P.J. Bogart. Bogart won the award for Minnesota from 1993-96.
Capobianco won his third national title in the 3-meter diving event this year and did so emphatically with a program-record score of 522.60 points, outscoring the field by 74.3 points. He also earned his second-consecutive silver medal on the 1-meter springboard at the NCAA meet. Capobianco ends his career a three-time NCAA champion, a six-time NCAA medalist and a 12-time All-American.
Johansen is now a repeat Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year after winning the award on the women’s side in 2022. He has won the award five times in his career and last won it consecutively in 2018 and 2019. Johansen was also named the CSCAA Diving Coach of the Year for the third time in his career this season.
Indiana divers scored 104 points at the NCAA meet, over 30 points clear of any other diving team. Two Hoosier divers won individual titles, one of whom was Carson Tyler. The sophomore won Indiana’s first ever platform diving title. Three Indiana divers medaled at the national meet, with Capobianco, Tyler, and sophomore Quinn Henninger bringing home hardware.
Indiana’s 2022-23 season is over. Swimmers and divers will compete in various summer events before returning to collegiate action this fall.
Follow reporter Nick Rodecap (@nickrodecap) for updates throughout the Indiana swim and dive season.
