In its second appearance this season in the College Swimming League, Indiana swimming and diving competed Friday in the CSL’s Match 5 and finished second with 469.83 points, only behind North Carolina State University.
After the CSL’s 12 teams complete all six matches, the three teams with the most league points will automatically earn a spot in the final Championship meet. With a win in its first match and a second-place finish in its next, the Hoosiers have seven points. The next four highest-scoring teams have a chance to claim the fourth and final spot in the Championship meet by competing in the Wild Card round. Both postseason meets will be held November 5-6 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.
Indiana started Match 5 by taking second place in both the men's and women's 200-yard backstroke. Junior Miroslav Knedla finished with a time of 1:39.65 in the men's competition and senior Miranda Grana finished with a time of 1:49.09 in the women’s. Knedla went on to win the men's 100-yard backstroke in 45.35 seconds.
The first win of the meet came from sophomore Josh Bey in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, scoring nine points for the Hoosiers with a 1:51.36 finish — his only Match 5 victory.
Sophomore Liberty Clark won all three of her events, as she did in Indiana’s first appearance in the College Swimming League. She won the women’s 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle events, earning Indiana 32 points.
Sophomore Alex Shackell also won both of her events — the women’s 200-yard butterfly in 1:52.13 and the women’s 100-yard butterfly in 50.89 seconds. The wins provided the Hoosiers with 18 points.
Indiana won the women’s 200-yard super skins relay for its second meet in a row. Senior Amanda Grana, junior Anita Bottazzo, Shackell and sophomore Grace Hoeper were the last team standing after four rounds of the event, swimming a 1:36.18 in the final round.
The CSL introduced the skins format as an elimination-style race where the slowest swimmer is eliminated each round until one swimmer is left standing. The super skins format features relays instead of individual swimmers.
Following the completion of this meet, Indiana sits third in the league standings with seven league points, tied with NC State and one point behind the University of Virginia. The Wolfpack is ahead due to them having more points in matches scored.
Right now, Indiana holds the first wild card spot, two points ahead of three teams.
The Hoosiers return to the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center in Bloomington for their next meet against the University of Kentucky and USC on Oct. 23. The meet is set to begin at 2 p.m.
Follow reporter Leonardo Vesperini (@leovmedia and lvesperi@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana swim and dive season.
