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(12/02/05 2:39pm)
The No. 11 IU men's swimming and diving team faces off in a Big Ten battle against No. 17 Northwestern at 4 p.m. Friday in Evanston, Ill. The Hoosiers have not been in action for close to two weeks, but used the long Thanksgiving break to get ready for the Wildcats.\n"We've just been focusing on working hard," senior Thomas Clavier said. "We're really determined even though we're busted up from lifting weights and swimming hard."\nThe Hoosiers might be without two of their top swimmers as junior Colin Russell earned a spot on Canada's Commonwealth games roster in the trials for the games Nov. 23 to 26 and senior Sergiy Fesenko is set to swim in the European Short Course Championships Dec. 8 to 11. Even without two of their main contributors, the Hoosiers' contingent of sophomore Todd Patrick, senior Kevin Swander and sophomore Nick Walkotten will lead the team against a tough Northwestern trio of junior Mike Alexandrov, sophomore Kyle Bubolz and junior Mike Grevers. \n"This is a real big meet for us because it's another milestone to show how good we are," Clavier said. "Northwestern is a good team."\nAs was the case in the IU Invitational, the Hoosiers' depth will play a key part in their success against Northwestern. \n"Northwestern is pretty top-heavy," Clavier said. "They have a lot of guys who are really good, where as we have more depth. We truly are a team, a unit."\nNorthwestern's trio allows them to have a tremendous relay team and which transcends into their success at dual meets. Nonetheless, IU coach Ray Looze said his team has the capability to handle the lineup Northwestern brings to the table. \n"We should be able to exploit their weaknesses and neutralize their strengths," Looze said. "I think we have a lineup that's going to surprise them."\nThe Hoosiers will also hope to post more provisional times for the NCAAs as sophomores Alex Brunfeldt, Fesenko and Ben Hesen, Patrick and Swander all have qualifying times for the NCAAs. Four divers on the men's side, seniors Ryan Fagan, Brian Mariano and Jesse Rappaport and junior Taylor Roberts also qualified for the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships held March 10 to 12 in Columbus, Ohio.
(11/21/05 4:46pm)
The No. 10 IU men's swimming and diving team played host to the IU Invitational this weekend at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center, racking up four titles and many individual honors.\nThis is the first season the IU Invitational did not have a team champion because the meet changed into an open format to include more swimmers and divers in the event. \nSophomore Todd Patrick led the Hoosiers, earning seven titles overall and climbing into the record books in several categories. \nIn the 200-yard freestyle relay, Patrick's B-cut time of 20:24 advanced him to eighth place on IU's all-time performers list. In the 200-yard freestyle, Patrick moved into 12th place on IU's all-time performers list in the event with a time of 1:37:86. His final entry into the record books involved the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44:40, moving him into a ninth-place tie on IU's all-time performers list in the event. \n"I'm real satisfied," Patrick said. "We were told we just have to come out and race with heart, to leave everything in the water."\n"Patrick is just a speed burner who is a talented swimmer," IU coach Ray Looze said. \nSophomore Nick Walkotten, who is in his first year of competitive swimming at IU, also provided highlights for the Hoosiers' weekend. Walkotten raced a personal best in the 100-yard backstroke, which etched his name into IU history with the ninth-fastest time in the event. \nWalkotten also claimed a title in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:49:16, which was good enough for the fifth-fastest time in the event in IU history. Walkotten's outstanding performance culminated in the 400-yard medley relay, where he teamed up with Patrick, senior Kevin Swander and junior Lee Houchin to overcome the University of Pittsburgh contingent with a time of 3:00:93. \n"It's a huge confidence builder," Walkotten said. "I broke the time barriers that I've been shooting for."\nIn the 3-meter dive during the first day of competition, the Hoosiers claimed two of the top three spots and three of the top 10. Senior Ryan Fagan placed second with a 322.80 point total while fellow senior Jesse Rappaport finished third with a 322.35 point total. Junior Brian Mariano placed eighth with a 274.30 effort. \nThe Hoosiers will face Northwestern at 4 p.m. Dec. 2 and then leave for a holiday training trip Dec. 29 in the Bahamas.
(11/18/05 4:01pm)
The No. 10 IU men's swimming and diving team plays host to the IU Invitational at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center this weekend and welcomes the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Arkansas, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Southern Illinois and the University of Louisville. \nThe invitational is unique in that some teams put a lot of emphasis on the meet, while others use it as a tuneup for upcoming pivotal meets, IU coach Ray Looze said. Looze also said some teams emphasize such meets because they are looking to qualify for their respective conference tournaments. Because of the absence of a time standard in the Big Ten, as well as higher expectations, IU's focus is on qualifying in the top 10 and sending its top swimmers and divers to the NCAA tournament, Looze said.\nSenior diver Ryan Fagan, who placed in the top 10 in both the one-meter and three-meter dual-meet charts Oct. 29, agreed that the Hoosiers will be using this weekend as a tuneup. \n"My goal and some of the other teammates' goal is to use this week as a rehearsal for some of the other bigger meets that are going to come," Fagan said. "We've been doing a lot of training, and we just want to use the techniques we've been doing."\nSenior Kevin Swander agreed that this weekend's invitational will be a more laid-back type of meet. \n"It's definitely easier to have fun when it's not a big meet," Swander said. "In a big meet, you get nervous, and the pressure is on. Here you can relax, you can learn to swim, you race smarter, and you can learn to do things better." \nThe Hoosiers might use this meet to practice for future key meets, but they understand they face a tough test from teams such as Pittsburgh, who view this invitational as critical to their season, Looze said.\n"Pittsburgh will shave and that's a tremendous advantage. We got our work cut out for us to beat them," Looze said. "Some of these teams are going to be shaved and very well prepared, so it will be a tough meet for us. But I think our depth will help us out a lot."\nIU also hopes to get a feel for what a three-day competition is like in preparation for future similar events like the Big Tens and NCAA championships.\n"This is a competition where it's sort of a dry run, kind of like the Big Ten Championships-type format where it's over three days," Looze said. "It allows us to do a little bit of a dry run while in intense training. We'll just be trying to get used to this type of a competition." \nBesides preparing for future meets and feeling out the three-day competition, the Hoosiers are looking to have some fun along the way as well. \n"My ultimate goal is just to go out and have fun and keep the team spirit," Swander said. "It's not necessarily a big meet for us in the sense that it's not a do-or-die meet. It's not the end of the season. The main focus is just to have fun and swim fast"
(11/16/05 11:57pm)
Although southern Indiana isn't known for its ski and snowboarding communities, the IU Ski Club manages to bring together winter recreation and social activity.\n"I love the Ski Club because everyone's so chill," sophomore Kiri Crane said. "It's just an awesome, laid back group of people that are all brought together by something we love: snow."\nThe club always tries to have some type of an event, whether it is a barbecue, social party or a lake outing every two weeks. In addition to the events, the club also plans weekly outings to nearby ski resort Paoli Peaks.\nHowever, for the members of the club, nothing tops the yearly trip they take to a major ski and snowboarding resort. \n"The winter trip is definitely the highlight of the club," Crane said. "I went last year to Copper Mountain and it was by far the best trip I've been on. Anytime I get to ride is amazing, but get an awesome group of people that like to party and you can't go wrong."\nThis year the club will ride down the slopes in Aspen, Colo., from Jan. 1-8 and will explore the Alps in Switzerland during spring break. Although some might consider a trip to Aspen impossible on a student budget, safety officer Sam Newlin-Haus said the trip is quite a bargain.\n"For a very little amount of money, I was able to meet a lot of cool people, a lot of great friends and be able to have an awesome time snowboarding," he said.\nBesides the trip to Colorado, Newlin-Haus said meeting people is the best aspect of the club. \n"It's the friends you make," he said. "I'm not sure about other clubs, but this club is not like, 'oh we have to go to this meeting.' We get to go to a barbecue or a social party or a movie. We all get to be a close-knit group and get to know each other." \nIn addition to having fun, one of the goals the club has is improving the skills of its members. \n"We have people who have never even seen a snowboard before go out on our trip and they have fun and learn," Newlin-Haus said. "We also have really good people who are trying to get sponsored and compete." \nEven with the trip and weekly outings, Crane still has greater aspirations for the club.\n"I individually want to expand the club," she said. "It's so much fun and there are so many people that show interest. I just want to get organized enough to keep all the people involved in the stuff we do."\nNewlin-Haus said a lack of experience in skiing or snowboarding should not prevent someone from joining the club.\n"We encourage everyone to sign up," he said. "If they have never even touched a snowboard or ski before, come to the club and make awesome friends. We'll have all these events. We'll be able to get them up to a decent level all by ourselves."\nAnyone interested in joining the club can do so at anytime and they can check out the club's Web site at www.indiana.edu/~snowski where more information about the club and upcoming events is posted, as is the officers' contact information. The club can also be reached through e-mail at snowski@indiana.edu.
(11/07/05 5:40am)
The men's swimming and diving team broke into the win column in a big way Friday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center as the Hoosiers recorded three wins against Louisville, Southern Illinois and No. 25 Wisconsin. \nSenior Sergiy Fesenko and sophomore Todd Patrick led the Hoosiers with three titles each. Overall, the Hoosiers claimed 12 titles on the day. \nMen's swimming coach Ray Looze was very satisfied with his team's overall performance.\n"I was very pleased with how the team comprehensively took care of business," he said. "We didn't lose a race, and it was a pretty dominant performance." \nIn the opening event of the afternoon, the Hoosier contingent of sophomore Ben Hesen, seniors Kevin Swanderand Thomas Clavier and junior Colin Russell captured first place with a time of 3:20.06 in the 400-yard medley relay. \nFesenko continued his early season success by blowing away the rest of the field with a time of 1:38.69 in the 200-yard freestyle. \nIn the 200-yard butterfly, Fesenko's remarkable day continued as he placed first with a time of 1:50.10 for the Hoosiers. Southern Illinois sophomore Antonio Santoro placed second in 1:50.97, while Wisconsin freshman Scott Rice finished in third in 1:51.15. Notably, freshman Keith Dawley posted a career-best time of 2:01.00.\nIn the 200-yard individual medley, Patrick snared the crown in 1:50.17, while Swander helped IU record a top-two sweep with a time of 1:51.79. Meanwhile, Louisville's Predia finished in third, while freshman A.J. Miller notched a career-best in 1:56.55 for fifth place. \nIn the 100-yard freestyle, the Hoosiers swept the top two spots as Patrick recorded a career-best 44.80 for first. That performance also tied Patrick for No. 12 all time in the event. Meanwhile, junior Lee Houchin finished second in 45.88.\n"We just keep learning more and more from each meet," Patrick said. "We had younger guys step it up. I'm just happy with how I'm improving from meet to meet." \nFesenko and Patrick teamed up with Houchin and Koehler to finish first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:03.27, while Southern Illinois placed second in 3:04.86, and Wisconsin took third in 3:05.45.\nEven though the Hoosiers were favored to win the meet, they did not let it get to their heads. \n"They were the underdog and had very good swimmers," Swander said. "We didn't go in overconfident and were able to pick up a win. It's a good sign that our team is coming together."\nThe Hoosiers also went one-two in the one-meter diving break as sophomore Taylor Roberts claimed the title with a 312.48 tally, while junior Brian Mariano finished second with a 302.28. Senior Ryan Fagan also cleared the zone-qualifying standard in the event with a nonscoring 316.50 effort. \nRoberts had a chance to break a school record entering his final dive and even though he was unable to do so, he still came out on top. \n"It felt good especially knowing that I'm not diving as well as I can be, so that gives me a lot of self-confidence," he said.\nNext up, the Hoosiers play host in the Indiana Invitational Nov. 18 at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
(11/02/05 4:50am)
Monday night, the Mike Standerski All-Stars wrapped up their second consecutive undefeated season by defeating the Pi Kappas 30-15 in the intramural whiffleball championship. The win makes 15 in a row for the All-Stars, bringing their three-year record to 21-2. \n"It's amazing," said junior Justin Ross. "We were upset when we didn't win our freshman year, but this has been unbelievable. It's fun to say you're back-to-back champions at a university like this. You don't get that opportunity every day, no matter what the sport is." \nThe All-Stars defeated the Whiffleballs Deep with ease last Thursday to earn a spot in the championship game Monday evening.\nThe All-Stars appeared to be on their way to another easy victory in the championship, not allowing a base hit until the third inning and preventing the Deep from making it past first base until the fifth inning. In the middle of their defensive stand, which included a diving catch by junior A.J. Amspaugh and a leaping catch by junior captain Rob Greenberg, the All-Stars built a 15-0 lead.\nHowever, the Whiffleballs Deep mounted a charge in the fifth and sixth innings, scratching together 14 hits and 11 runs to climb to within four of the All-Stars. \n"I think when we got out to a big lead it was a combination of us getting relaxed and them hitting the ball real well, finding holes in the defense," Greenberg said. "We started to take our foot off the gas pedal and sensed we were going to coast to a victory." \nThe All-Stars responded to the Deep run with five runs in the seventh, including three home runs, and they sealed the deal in the eighth with 10 runs, the maximum amount of runs a team can score in a single inning. \n"We always seem to feel like we have it in the bag, and we let them back in it," Amspaugh said. "That thought kind of crossed my mind tonight a little bit. But this team has had experience; it's our second year winning."\nThe All-Stars credit their tremendous three-year run to team chemistry and a combination of defense and powerful offense. \n"When you have five teammates that are good friends, really like each other and have fun playing together, you have good team chemistry," Greenberg said. "It doesn't matter what the score is, it's going to be fun no matter what."\nRoss also said the team's offense and defensive capabilities played a major part as well. \n"We have a lot of confidence in all five of us," Ross said. "We know that we play amazing defense, and that's what we live by, and we know we're going to score." \nAlthough the All-Stars have dominated the whiffleball intramurals for the past three years, Greenberg would love to see the league's membership expand. \n"I would love to see an increase in the number of teams, and I would love to see an increase in, frankly, the talent of teams we play," he said. "I challenge anybody to come out here next year and put a team together and see how you compare against us because we'll be there in the playoffs."\nAnyone wanting to answer the challenge can contact Rec Sports for more information online at www.recsports.indiana.edu.
(10/25/05 5:08am)
Current radio broadcaster for IU football and basketball Don Fischer called Friday evening's Hall of Fame banquet "the best night Indiana University puts on athletically." \nThe IU Varsity Club sponsored the IU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame banquet Friday night as seven former standout athletes and coaches were recognized for their achievements in athletics. The seven 2005 inductees make it the second largest class of inductees since the Hall of Fame's establishment in 1982. Softball coach Gayle Blevins, football standout Gene "Pat" Gedman, tennis player Deborah Edelman Kane, former men's tennis coach Dale Lewis, former men's golfer Shaun Micheel, men's swimmer Fred Schmidt and former soccer player and football kicker Pete Stoyanovich will now have their pictures hanging on a wall next to other former IU legends such as Branch McCracken, Mark Spitz and Isaiah Thomas. \n"It's certainly something that I never dreamed about," said Micheel, winner of the 2003 PGA Championship. "The list is long and there are people that should be in the Hall of Fame that aren't. When I came to school here and when I left school, that wasn't one of my dreams at all. I just have this smile on my face, and I've had it the whole way up here."\nFor Blevins, the Hall of Fame induction not only recognized her accomplishments, but what her players did as well. \n"It validates all the women that had a chance to play during that time period to really know their contributions were recognized and appreciated by the university," she said. "It makes me feel very appreciative of the fact that their achievements were recognized."\nEach inductee spoke of trials and tribulations at IU, evoking tears and laughter from the audience with their memories from past days at IU. \nFighting back tears, Amy Doherty spoke for her father, Gene "Pat" Gedman: "IU gave my father the chance to not only play a sport he loved, but to get an education and gain experiences to thrive in the real world."\nFormer tennis great Deborah Kane provoked laughter from the audience when she called her husband "the best friend I've ever had, but the worst tennis player I've ever met." \nStoyanovich enjoyed a great career as a two-sport athlete at IU, but he endured some rough times along the way as he contemplated leaving IU after losing his mother after his freshman season. \n"The decision to stay wasn't easy," Stoyanovich said. "If it wasn't for the people I was surrounding myself with, I don't think my career beyond the collegiate level would have ever happened. I had a lot of strong people around me giving me a lot of support and great advice through some very difficult times. It's meant the world to me. It's very heartfelt, and I owe it to a lot of people."\nThrough all the laughter and tears, one theme ran rampant as each inductee spoke: pride and gratitude for their alma mater and former coaching ground. \n"IU will always have a special place in my heart," Blevins said. "This is where I had a chance to grow as a young professional. What a great University to be at and to coach for." \nStoyanovich ended the evening with a simple statement each inductee seemed to echo through their speeches: "I'm proud to be a Hoosier, and I'll always be a Hoosier"
(10/05/05 4:35am)
The IU rugby team suffered only its second loss of the season this weekend at the hands of the Indy Impalas. The loss dropped IU's record to 5-2, but team captain Hans Van Horn believed the Impalas proved to be a valuable experience for his team as it prepares for Slippery Rock University, coming to IU Oct. 8.\n"The (Indy) game went well considering what we were up against," he said. "It is good to play up to a higher level and we definitely did that last Saturday night. We played against seven former IU Mudshark players and two former All-Americans. Going into next week, I think the edge of playing up to their level will show against Slippery Rock."\nThe men's IU rugby team prides itself on being more than just an average club sport. Many players admit they didn't join the team for fun, or even just for something to do; they joined because they're dedicated to the sport.\n"(Rugby) takes hard work and determination ... you have to play with your heart," said Ivy Tech freshman John Batchelor, who plans to transfer to IU in the spring. \nThe team also says it offers one of the most cohesive teams on campus, forming many relationships throughout the year. \n"You'll never be on a team that is more tight-knit than this team because you go to battle with each other," Van Horn said. "It's amazing the bond that is formed within a rugby team." \nBatchelor said playing rugby allowed him to "make new friends, be a part of something at IU, build camaraderie and stay in shape." \nVan Horn said playing rugby also requires plenty of physical strength. \n"(Rugby) requires endurance. It is a combination of soccer and football. You have to have an incredible amount of endurance. People think it is just smash mouth, but it's more than that. You have to be in peak condition. It's much more demanding than soccer and football because it is a combination of the two."\nThe Mudsharks, IU's team, entered the 2005 campaign with a very young and undersized team. However, those obstacles do not faze head coach Sarasopa Enari, now in his 11th season as coach. \n"We don't have the size, but our fitness has become evident of the big teams that we play against this year. Our fitness will translate into our speed and that will get us out of trouble," Enari said.\nAlthough the team has barriers it must overcome, Van Horn said he has high expectations for this year's team.\n"In collegiate rugby, there are different sections in the country and you have to meet the certain requirements of your given section in order to make it to the national tournament. This year, we have to finish in the top two to make it to nationals and so of course, that's our goal."\nThe Mudsharks seem well on their way to achieving that goal as evident by their victories over Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Wichita and Saint Louis University. \nFans can catch both the Slippery Rock and the Ball State games Saturday at the Evan Williams Field, located behind the University Gym. For more information, visit the Mudsharks' Web site at www.indiana.edu/~mudshark/.
