After a strong 1-meter dive performance put Indiana in second place at the men's swimming and diving Big Ten Championships and only 24 points behind first place Michigan, things were looking positive for the Hoosiers as they entered the final event of the night - the 400-yard medley relay.
Three quarters of the way through the race, the Hoosiers were in second place, and were heading into the final leg with junior Jim Barbiere set to close it out. That is when everything went wrong for the Hoosiers, as Barbiere left .01 seconds before freshman Steve Schmuhl touched the wall indicating the end of his leg of the race. Barbiere's early departure led to a disqualification for the Hoosiers relay team, as the result led to the Hoosiers dropping back to third place at the end of Day 2. IU is now 64 points behind first place Michigan and 29 behind second place Ohio State.
The Hoosiers started off strong on Thursday night, with Barbiere finishing in fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:18.23; his career best after three seasons swimming for the Hoosiers. Seniors Tyler Shedron, Ryan Hinshaw and Andrew Taylor followed in 10th, 12th and 15th respectively, as Shedron earned his career-best time of 4:21.68 in the consolation finals.
Sophomore Cody Miller followed with his career-best time of 1:44.81 in the 200-yard Individual Medley, as he led the Hoosiers with a fourth place finish. Junior Sam Trahin followed with a 13th place time of 1:47.45, not his career best, though he did set it earlier in the day during preliminaries (1:47.42). Finally, in the 50-yard freestyle, junior Daniel Kanorr finished eighth out of all competitors, earning a time of 19.83 in the finals, his career-best time. Kanorr was the lone IU finisher out of the Top 24 who competed in the event.
Finally, in the 1-meter dive, sophomore Emad Abdelatif finished in fourth place in the finals with a score of 370.10 after not diving all season due to injury, by far his career best that was set earlier in the day (333.90). Though Abdelatif provided the biggest storyline for the Hoosiers on Thursday, sophomore Darian Schmidt was the highest IU finisher on the event, finishing in third place with a score of 372.10, only two points more than his teammate. Juniors Zac Nees and Mick Dell'Orco finished in sixth and seventh for the Hoosiers, while four other Hoosiers finished in the 12-15 range in the consolation round.
The team will try to rebound tomorrow, as the Hoosiers have seven events to compete for, including the 3-meter dive, 400-yard IM and the 200-yard freestyle amongst others. Action will resume at 1:00 p.m. EST.
