No. 2/5 Indiana swim and dive opened its 2026-27 season in Westmont, Illinois, to kick off the first College Swimming League match. The men’s and women’s teams scored together and finished in first place with 575.5 points, more than 100 points ahead of the University of Louisville.
The College Swimming League is a new 12-team collegiate swimming series held during the NCAA fall swimming season. CSL CEO Robert Kent founded the league to elevate collegiate swimming to commercial prominence in collaboration with broadcasters and sponsors.
Indiana set the tone for the CSL early in Thursday's meet, as senior Miranda Grana swam a personal best in the women's 200-yard backstroke with a winning time of 1:49.85, netting the Hoosiers 10 points early in the meet.
By finishing more than 6.76 seconds ahead of eighth, Grana used the jackpot swim rule, which allows swimmers who finish first ahead of eighth by a certain number of seconds to steal points from the swimmers they beat.
Junior Raekwon Noel clinched the men's 200-yard backstroke title in 1:39.02, giving the Hoosiers another 10 points by completing a jackpot swim. He also finished first in the men's 100-yard backstroke and second in the men's 100-yard butterfly.
Sophomore Josh Bey finished first in the men's 200-yard breaststroke, stopping the clock at 1:52.46. Bey is one of the favorites for the NCAA title in the event, coming into this season as the 2026 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year. Bey also finished first in the men's 200-yard individual medley and fourth in the men's 200-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Alex Shackel secured another jackpot victory for the Hoosiers in the women's 200-yard butterfly, taking points from swimmers in fifth through eighth with her dominant winning time of 1:52.24 seconds, while also collecting a jackpot in the women's 50-yard butterfly skins. She finished the race with 19 points and won the women's MVP award for the event, according to SwimSwam.
Skins is a type of race where swimmers compete in an elimination style sprint race in back-to-back rounds over short distances. After the conclusion of each round, the last finishers are eliminated until one swimmer remains. Super skins is a variation of this format with the same principles but with a relay team.
Sophomore Liberty Clark took home three victories in the inaugural CSL event, winning the women's 100-yard freestyle, women's 50-yard freestyle and the women's 200-yard freestyle. She ended the day adding 29 points for the Hoosiers. She made it to the third round of the women's 50-yard butterfly skins before being eliminated.
Indiana dominated all four rounds of the women's 200-yard medley relay super skins, finishing first in every round except for the opening race in which it finished third by 0.09 seconds. In the final round, the team of Grana, junior Anita Bottazzo, Shackell and fifth-year senior Kristina Paegle came out on top over Michigan with a final time of 1:35.23.
The Hoosiers collectively finished the meet in first place, totaling 575.5 points overall. Indiana now returns home to the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington to host the Cream and Crimson exhibition at 2 p.m. Oct. 2.
Follow reporter Leonardo Vesperini (@leovmedia and lvesperi@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana swim and dive season.
