Indiana’s swimming and diving teams kicked off their season with the annual Cream and Crimson exhibition at Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center in Bloomington on Friday.
Following the exhibition, Indiana will open its regular season hosting the University of Texas at Austin and Northwestern on Oct. 9. Texas proves to be a difficult test for Indiana, as the Longhorns won the men’s title and finished third on the women’s side in the 2026 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships.
“Texas has been winning the last two national titles, so that’s why we’re swimming against them,” Indiana head coach Ray Looze said following the exhibition. “We need to see where we’re at.”
Last season, Looze led both the men’s and women’s teams to third and seventh place finishes at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, respectively. While acknowledging the success of last season, Looze continues to focus on the season to come.
“Last year is done, it has no pertinence,” Looze said. “We have an incredibly hard schedule...It’s just feet to the fire.”
In addition to a powerhouse team like Texas, involvement in College Swimming League, a new intercollegiate swimming series, allows Indiana to swim against teams like the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University and North Carolina State University, who continue to push the Hoosiers to swim at their best.
“Cal and Stanford the following week is going to be really tough,” Looze said. “NC State’s a great team, so that’s probably going to be one of our top matches in the CSL.”
With a schedule packed with ranked teams, Looze tells his team to look at the season from the end backward, visualizing their success in March and thinking about what they need to do to attain that during their meets. Looze says this strategy helps build his swimmers' resilience.
Based on what Looze has seen in preseason practices, he said he believes Indiana has the mental toughness to push through hard meets.
“These are two awesome teams, really good culture, good mix of young and veteran talent,” Looze said. “I’m having the time of my life coaching these guys.”
The women’s swim and dive team features 11 freshmen — the largest class group on the team. The squad also features six seniors, including Miranda Grana — a 15-time All-American and 13-time conference medalist.
Sophomore Liberty Clark and senior Ella Roselli were named on the Big Ten’s women’s swimmers and divers to watch list for the upcoming season. Clark broke Indiana’s program record in the women’s 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA championship meet, becoming the first Hoosier to finish the event in under 47 seconds.
On the men’s side, sophomores Josh Bey and Josh Hedberg were named as two more Hoosiers to watch on the Big Ten’s men’s swimmers and divers to watch list. In Bey’s first year with Indiana, he won the Big Ten Freshman and Swimmer of the Year awards, winning the 400-yard Individual Medley at the Big Ten Championship meet.
Later in their season, the Hoosiers will face off against Michigan and the University of Louisville, two teams who finished in the top 15 in both the men’s and women’s NCAA championship meets last season.
Follow reporter Leonardo Vesperini (@leovmedia and lvesperi@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana swim and dive season.
