Led by senior Eric Ress and incoming freshman Austin Saunders, four IU swimmers posted top finishes at last weekend's Southern Zone South Sectional Championship in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Ress won two events at the four-day meet, notching victories in both the 200-meter Individual Medley (2:05.05) and 200-meter backstroke (2:00.98). He also finished third in the 800-meter freestyle (8:21.73), fourth in the 100-meter backstroke (59.18) and sixth in the 100-meter butterfly (56.44).
Saunders meanwhile was the anchor member of two relay victories from his Westminster Academy Swim Team, taking wins in both the 200-medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay. Amongst his best individual events, Saunders finished 10th in the 100-meter butterfly (1:00.13), 15th in the 50-meter freestyle (24.77) and 13th in the 200-meter butterfly (2:11.39).
Also participating for the Hoosiers in the Sectional Championship was senior Nicholas Schwab, who will be representing the Dominican Republic in the 2012 Olympics in the 200-meter freestyle. In the same event at the Southern Zone Sectional Championship, Schwab finished in fourth place in a time of 1:53.36. Schwab did however finish second in the 400-meter IM (4:31.80) and the 100-meter freestyle (52.95), and seventh in the 200-meter IM (2:11.58).
The lone Hoosier women's swimmer competing was sophomore Justine Ress, who also found herself in multiple finals at the meet. Ress finished second in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:05.77 and third in the 200-meter backstroke with a 2:20.32 time.
While Schwab, sophomore Dorina Szekeres and recent IU graduate Margaux Farrell compete at next week's Olympic games, the remainder of the IU swimming team will report back to Bloomington to continue their training for the 2012-13 season. As of July 18, next season's schedule had yet to be released.
