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(06/21/12 12:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Diving Trials well underway at the Weyerhauser Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., a new generation of current and former IU contenders is proving to be successful.Led by 2009 graduate Christina Loukas, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, multiple Hoosiers have booked spots in the finals of their events, putting them one step closer to competing in London. “I’m really happy that we made the finals,” said former IU diver Gabby Agostino, who clinched a spot in the finals for the 3-meter synchronized dive. “We are not really focused on place going into finals. Rather, (we’re) focused on doing our dives well and what we work on every day in practice.” Agostino, who recently completed her four-year eligibility at IU in 2012, and former IU and now Virginia Tech diver Logan Kline ended Sunday in sixth place in the 3-meter synchro competition. The duo has 490.20 points, 147.60 points behind the leaders Abby Johnston and Kelci Bryant.Agostino ended last season with three top-six finishes in the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships but missed out on a bid to the NCAA Championships after not recording a top-three finish at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships.“After my last season at IU not ending the way that I would’ve liked it to, it feels good to be in the finals,” Agostino said. “That was our goal coming into the meet.”In the same event, Loukas, Agostino’s former teammate, currently sits in second place with partner Kassidy Cook. The duo trails Johnston and Bryant by only 6.51 points. The final round of the women’s 3-meter synchro is Thursday evening, when divers will have one final chance to add to the cumulative score they built over the previous rounds.The pair with the highest cumulative score after the finals will advance to the Olympics.If Loukas fails to advance in that event, however, she is currently in line to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in the 3-meter individual springboard dive. In that event, the top two finishers make the Olympics.After Tuesday’s preliminaries and semifinals, Loukas sits in second place with 679.65 points, 39.20 points behind leader Cassidy Krug and 26.40 points ahead of Cook, who is in third. “I was really happy with the semifinals. I think I handled everything well,” Loukas said in an interview with USA Diving. “I was playing it safe this morning. I was more aggressive and confident this evening, and it worked. I’m going to stick to that for finals.”Also advancing to the finals of an individual event was former IU diver Zac Nees, who qualified in 12th place in the men’s platform dive. Nees was the 2012 Big Ten Diver of the Year before deciding to transfer to University of Miami (Florida) for his senior year.The finals for the men’s platform dive will be broadcast live nationally at 4 p.m. Saturday on NBC. Loukas’ event, in addition to the men’s 3-meter dive and women’s platform dive, will be broadcast live at 3 p.m. Sunday, also on NBC.
(06/20/12 6:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The road to London just got a little shorter for former IU diver Christina Loukas. The former All-American and 2009 NCAA Champion scored 317.46 points in the women’s three-meter springboard semifinals Wednesday and sits in second place heading into Saturday’s finals at the USA Diving Olympic Trials, held at the Weyerhauser Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.The top two finishers in the event will make the U.S. Olympic team.“I was really happy with the semifinal,” Loukas told USA Diving Wednesday. “I think I handled everything well. I was playing it safe this morning. I was more aggressive and confident this evening, and it worked. I’m going to stick to that for finals.”Loukas is six dives away from making her second Olympic team, scoring a total of 679.65 points heading into the finals. She is 39.20 points behind leader Cassidy Krug. Loukas was in second after the preliminary round with a score of 321. 85 and trailed Krug by 37.55 points heading into the semifinal round. IU Junior Conor Murphy also competed in the Trials yesterday, placing 19th in the men’s platform preliminaries with a score of 270.50. The Trials continue through June 24. --Joe Popely
(06/19/12 10:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Former Hoosier diver and 2008 Olympian Christina Loukas and partner Kassidy Cook are in second place of the women’s three-meter synchronized event at the 2012 USA Diving Olympic Trials in Federal Way, Wash. Loukas and Cook recorded a score of 631.29 on Monday at the Weyerhauser Aquatic Center. The score was just 6.51 points behind leaders Abby Johnston and Kelci Braynt. The final round takes place Thursday with everything on the line for each pair of divers. The top scoring pair will earn the lone U.S. spot at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Gabby Agostino and Logan Kline, also former Hoosiers, placed sixth with a score of 490.20 and will dive in Thursday’s finals. Scores at the Trials are cumulative, meaning preliminary, semifinal and final round scores all count toward determining which pair will represent the U.S. The Trials continue through June 24. --Joe Popely
(04/19/12 1:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On April 28, Special Olympics Indiana-Monroe County will have a fundraiser dinner and silent auction at AMVETS Post 2000 at 5227 W. Airport Rd. in Bloomington. At that dinner, IU Diving Coach Jeff Huber and USA Diving national champion Amy Cozad will speak about their keys to success in their respective careers. Huber is a three-time Olympic coach and will share the 15 lessons he has learned about reaching potential. Cozad, a junior at IU and the 2011 U.S. Diving Champion in the 10-meter platform synchronized dive (with sophomore IU teammate Laura Ryan), will talk about her experiences, successes and difficulties in the sport. SOIMC offers year-round sports opportunities for children, 8 years and older, and adults who have intellectual, cognitive or learning disabilities. The group is funded entirely by donations that go toward covering registration fees for prospective athletes.“I believe that sport involvement makes a positive difference in the lives of all people,” Huber said in a press release. “The Special Olympics is a wonderful growth experience for the participants, volunteers and community.”The dinner will cost $20 for adults and $10 for children and will start at 5 p.m. with food options of steak, chicken or vegetarian lasagna. The event will also have door prizes, games and other special guests, including Hoosier Country 105.1 radio personality Sheila Stephen. To purchase tickets, contact AMVETS at 812-825-2200. A full list of silent-auction items, including local restaurant gift cards and IU diving gear, is available at www.soimc.org/benefit.
(04/09/12 8:31pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU diving legend Mark Lenzi has died at the age of 43.A 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 3-meter, Lenzi was hospitalized in critical condition March 28 for fainting spells and a dangerously low blood pressure of 78/48, according to Fredericksburg.com. He was unable to survive and passed away Monday morning.During his tenure at IU, Lenzi won four Big Ten individual titles, ranging from the 1-meter to the platform, and two national championships in the 1-meter dive. In addition, Lenzi was named NCAA Diver of the Year in both 1989 and 1990. "Mark was not only a tremendous athlete and competitor, but someone who loved Indiana University and loved being a part of the IU diving family and IU diving tradition," IU Diving Coach Jeff Huber said. "I was fortunate to have been able to coach Mark his senior year."When he graduated in 1990, Lenzi turned professional and was named Phillips 66 Diver of the Year in 1991 and 1992. At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Lenzi won the gold medal in the 3-meter dive, making him the most recent Hoosier swimmer or diver to do so.Lenzi was also the first diver ever to break the 100-point barrier on any dive. After a brief retirement, Lenzi returned for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he finished with a bronze medal in the 3-meter dive. In total, Lenzi won 18 international events throughout his career.Lenzi was inducted into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001 and has a large banner of his Barcelona gold medal performance posted in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. He is survived by his wife of seven years, Dorothy."It is a sad day indeed for the Lenzi family, Indiana University, and the IU diving family," Huber said.Huber said the dynamic between Lenzi and legendary diving coach Hobie Billingsley was a special one that helped define not only diving at IU, but on a national scale."He and Hobie were very close and had a father-son type relationship," Huber said. "It was a privilege to watch the two of them work together when Mark came back to IU to make his comeback and earn the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics: two of the greatest names in USA diving history — Mark Lenzi and Hobie Billingsley." — Jordan Littman
(03/28/12 4:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the wall in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center, a large banner reminds all IU swimmers and divers of the goal they dream of achieving in their lifetimes.That poster lists every IU swimmer and diver who has made it to the Summer Olympics dating back to 1952. According to that list, an IU swimmer or diver has made every Summer Olympics since that year.That streak will continue for this year’s 2012 London Olympics, as senior Margaux Farrell qualified for the 4X200 freestyle relay team at the French National Championships this past week in Dunkerque, France. “I can’t believe that I can call myself an Olympian. It is still very surreal, and I don’t think it has fully hit me yet,” Farrell said. “I’m really honored and proud to continue a tradition and legacy of IU swimming excellence.”Farrell’s journey to the Olympics has been a balance between academics and her sport. A journalism major from Woodbridge, Conn., Farrell had to make sure her grades were strong while improving enough as a swimmer with the IU swimming and diving team to have a shot at the Olympics.A dedicated student athlete, Farrell has achieved a 3.8 grade-point average during her time at IU and plans to attend graduate school. In addition, as a Hoosier swimmer, Farrell has been a member of two Big Ten Championship winning teams, is a 12-time NCAA All-American and set six IU record swims. “Growing up, I reached a point where I realized that there were things I had to put aside and things I needed to give up to make time for swimming, all of this meanwhile with the long-term dream of eventually reaching the Olympics,” Farrell said. “Looking back on when I was upset that I couldn’t go to the homecoming dance because I had state the next day or that I couldn’t go to a Sweet 16 because I was at championships or things like that, all of that to me is forgotten or made up for, in a sense.”Heading into the French National Championships and Olympic Trials, Farrell faced an obstacle she had prepared for throughout the past four years. The French Nationals were from March 18 to 24, while the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships were from March 15 to 17 in Auburn, Ala. After earning two All-American times at the NCAA Championships in the 200-yard freestyle and the 800-yard freestyle relay, Farrell, two flights and about 4,500 miles later on March 19, arrived in Dunkerque ready for trials, where only a day later, she was competing in the 200-meter freestyle preliminaries. The prior three seasons at IU, Farrell had done the same trip so as to be ready for this one occasion.“I was tired, sore and ready to know my fate, but my body and mind were ready for that competition,” Farrell said. “I think that was why I was able to achieve what I wanted to do.” Despite much traveling, Farrell had to participate in the finals for the 200-meter freestyle on Wednesday. After finishing in fifth in the finals with a time of 1:59.31, Farrell had to wait until Sunday afternoon before finding out she would make the Olympic team.“Waiting during those days, I experienced a mix of emotions because I didn’t want to allow myself to believe I had made the team until I officially had,” Farrell said. “When I landed in Chicago for my layover coming home, I turned on my phone and received a mass amount of text messages letting me know I had made it, so it wasn’t even the press release that I found out from. It was my friends and family. That made it all the more better in my eyes.” Farrell could also qualify for the 4X100 freestyle relay, as she finished fourth at the French Nationals in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 56.32. Though France currently is not qualified for the event, should the nation hold one of the world’s four fastest times (from March 1, 2011, to June 1, 2012) of the teams yet to qualify for it, Farrell most likely would be selected for the team. Currently, France holds the third-fastest time of those teams yet to qualify in the event. “Obviously, I would like to swim as much as possible at the Olympics, so being in the 4x1 would be awesome,” Farrell said. “However, I’m not focusing so much on that right now. It is what it is, and at the end of the day, my goal all along was the 4x2, so I’m just honored I get at least one opportunity to swim my best event.”After years of preparation for this opportunity, Farrell has finally seized it. She will swim in the 2012 Olympics in London, and her name will be added to the prestigious banner hanging over the pool she swims in every day as a Hoosier. Margaux Farrell has sealed her name in IU history.“It truly has not hit me that I’m an ‘Olympian.’ I feel weird saying it,” Farrell said. “I always dreamed of this, and this was always the utmost goal of mine. However, it’s the Olympics, and growing up, all little kids say they want to go, but the percentage of them that actually do is far different. I can’t believe that now that’s me. I’m going to the Olympics.“
(03/26/12 2:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Heading into the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Wash., IU junior diver Zac Nees said the team’s goal would be to finish in the top 10 in the standings when it was all said and done.After three days of competition against the best swimmers and divers across the nation, the goal was achieved. IU finished with 140 points through the span of the meet, good enough for a 10th place finish at the NCAA Championships. That is the Hoosiers’ highest placing since 2008, when the team also finished in 10th.“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this group,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “What a way to finish the season. To finish top 10 in the country, when we were arguably without our best swimmer, just all the credit goes to our guys. They represented Hoosier Nation extremely well tonight.”The Hoosiers’ Top 10 effort was led by a slew of five NCAA diving first team All-American finishes and three honorable mention All-American efforts. Leading the Hoosiers in the pool was Nees, who finished as a first team All-American in the 3-meter (380.00 points) and platform dive (343.95) and an honorable mention in the 1-meter dive (370.10).“I built up my confidence through success in dual meets all year, and even though I had an off meet at Big Tens, I knew that I could compete with the guys at NCAAs,” Nees said. “I think that is the main reason I was successful at this meet, and that is the lesson I will take away.“In addition to Nees, sophomore Darian Schmidt was a first team All-American in the 3-meter dive, junior Mick Dell’Orco a first team All-American in the 1-meter dive and sophomore Conor Murphy a first team All-American in the platform dive. Combined, the Hoosier divers accounted for 71 of the team’s overall 140 points.“You know, last year we got nine points from diving, and we had Eric Ress in that meet, arguably our best swimmer,” Looze said. “After last year, we got together and decided we wanted to have a good meet, and I have to give the credit to (Diving Coach) Jeff Huber for turning that group of divers into the kind of group we have now.”The Hoosiers also got major points from sophomore Cody Miller, who scored in the 200-yard Individual Medley, 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke. Miller first broke the IU school record in the 200 IM in a 10th-place finish, racing a 1:44.02 in the finals. Miller then followed with a seventh-place finish and first team All-American award in the 100 breast Friday, and he finished ninth Saturday in the 200 breast.“I was really pleased with my performance in the 2IM,” Miller said. “I really wanted to break 1:44, but I fell short by two-one-hundredths of a second, which is slightly painful. However, being a three time All-American is really satisfying, and I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates.“Teams say every year, ‘Well, next year, that will be our year. We will do better next year,’ but seriously, we just established ourselves as a top-10 program with 10 guys,” Miller said. “We aren’t losing anyone, and we are only gaining in points, which is rare for teams. Next year we will have more guys, and we will be an even bigger impact at the NCAA level.”Finally, junior Sam Trahin earned first team All-American honors after finishing fourth in the 400-yard IM on Friday. Not only did Trahin set the IU school record in the finals for the event with a time of 3:44.37, but he also broke the record during preliminaries, when he raced a 3:44.49.“Setting the school record in the 400 IM was a great accomplishment, but more important than the record was my impact for the team,” Trahin said. “I really wanted to help the program, and I believe I did the best I could.”Looze also credits Assistant Head Coach Mike Westphal for staying back with the team while the women’s team competed in their NCAA Championships. Looze said that without him pushing the team while he and the remaining coaches were gone, the Hoosiers would not have been ready for this meet.“We’ve got a great staff from top to bottom,” Looze said. “We’re fortunate that we’ve got good people producing good results, and we’re looking forward to keeping that going.”Things are only looking up from here for the IU swimming and diving team. The Hoosiers will return every point scorer from the NCAA’s next season and will return future senior Eric Ress, who most recently finished second in the 200-meter backstroke at the French National Championships on Thursday. For now, though, the wait to return to the pool next fall begins.“I think we are in a good place and that we have a potential top-five team on our hands,” Looze said. “We’re excited about the future. Everyone comes back, and we’re still adding good people, so right now, this is the men’s time to shine.”
(03/22/12 3:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coming off last season’s 18th-place finish at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, led by then-sophomore Eric Ress’ two runner-up finishes in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, the IU men’s swimming and diving team will have to look elsewhere this year to earn points. Heading into this year’s NCAA Championships this weekend in Federal Way, Wash., 10 members of the IU men’s swimming and diving team will attempt to improve on last year’s mark and earn the Hoosiers’ first individual champion since 2008 and potentially the first diving champion since 1990.The Hoosiers will have to do it this year without Ress, as he is in Dunkerque, France, competing in the French National Championships and Olympic Trials.“It means a lot to have the opportunity to compete at this meet,” junior diver Zac Nees said. “We also have the largest guys diving team at this meet, which is a big advantage. We are going to miss Ress’ points because he would have a shot at winning two events and he would make the relays faster, but we still have a chance to do well.”The Hoosiers will have multiple chances to break the 21-year diving drought as the three 2012 NCAA Zone C Diving Champions will be competing in the meet. On Thursday, the 1-meter Zone C Champion Nees will try for the national title in the event, competing against teammates junior Mick Dell’Orco and sophomore Darian Schmidt. Nees was the winner of eight events throughout the season.“My results this season give me confidence to be consistent enough to do well, but I know the level of competition out there,” Nees said. “I will really have to step up in order to place in the top 3, but I am looking forward to this meet.”Come Friday, Schmidt, the 3-meter Zone C Champion and IU school record holder, will look to earn a national title for the Hoosiers. In the zone meet, Schmidt barely beat Ohio State’s Shane Miszkiel by a 3.25-point margin to win the title, while Nees finished third, only 16.75 points behind. On Saturday, sophomore Conor Murphy will compete in his best event — the platform dive — after running away with the Zone C title in the event by an 86.95-point mark. “A National Title would mean a lot to anyone on our team to win going into such a big summer for diving,” Nees said. “Since it is an Olympic year, we have Olympic Trials and Summer Nationals this summer. It would be a huge boost of confidence moving into the summer season, and would be a huge statement to the level of effort everyone on our team has been putting in all year long.”On the swimming end, sophomore Cody Miller could give the Hoosiers their first breaststroke title since 1965, when Tom Trethewey won the 200-yard breaststroke in an overall second-place effort. Miller, the Big Ten Champion in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke for the second straight year, is seeded in the top five for both events.In addition to Miller, the Hoosiers will also look to sophomore James Wells and juniors Sam Trahin and Jim Barbiere to improve on this past season’s 18th-place finish. Wells is seeded in the top 15 in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, Trahin in the 400-yard Individual Medley and Barbiere in the 500-yard freestyle. In addition, the Hoosiers will compete in the 200-yard medley relay, where points are doubled.“I think we have a good shot of moving up in the ranks,” Nees said.” We have a lot more potential in diving points, and all of our swimmers are ready to finish the season out strong. Our team goal is to try to break the top 10, so we will see how it pans out.”
(03/19/12 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a dominating performance at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships from March 8-10, the IU’s men’s swimming and diving team has much to cheer about.In addition to sweeping the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform dives, the Hoosiers will send four of their elite competitors to Federal Way, Wash., for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships from Thursday through Saturday.The Hoosiers qualified their first two divers March 8, when sophomore Darian Schmidt won the 3-meter title with a score of 769.90 on 12 dives. Following Schmidt’s performance, junior Zac Nees finished third with a score of 753.15, also good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships.The next day, Nees secured his first career Zone C title and his eighth win of the season, sealing the 1-meter title with 761.75 points. Junior Mick Dell’Orco also qualified for the NCAA Championships, as he finished third with 709.35 points.On the final day of competition, sophomore Conor Murphy clinched his first career NCAA berth, winning the platform dive by a resounding 86.95-point margin.Murphy’s score of 847.65 also meant he averaged more than 70 points per dive, indicating a near-flawless performance.The four divers leave today, and will join the six IU swimmers in the Seattle metro area for the championship competition. The last IU men’s diver to win an NCAA title was Mark Lenzi more than 20 years ago in 1990. That year, he won the 1-meter dive, his second of two consecutive championships.— Jordan Littman
(03/19/12 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Heading into her potentially final meet of her collegiate career at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala., senior Allysa Vavra hoped to have one final hoorah in an illustrious career. Vavra, a senior and an IU record holder in three events, had an opportunity to win three national championships in the 200- and 400-yard Individual Medley and the 200-yard breaststroke after qualifying in the top eight in each event. Though she didn’t win any of those events, much like the resounding theme of the Hoosiers at the NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers extended their streak to nine consecutive NCAA meets in which the team has finished in the top 15 after finishing in 13th place with 115 points.“We moved up from last year, so that’s an improvement,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “We would have loved to be top 10 ultimately, but we took a step in the right direction.”Heading into the meet with 13 members of the team competing, the Hoosiers had a chance to eclipse the record ninth-place finish set in 2005. However, the team missed multiple opportunities to score points in other events. The Hoosiers had false starts in multiple events, ranging from 400-yard freestyle relay to senior Margaux Farrell in the 100-yard freestyle and sophomore Brenna MacLean in the 200-yard Individual Medley. Sophomore diver Laura Ryan injured her shoulder in the preliminaries of the platform dive after qualifying for the consolation final.“When you enter the meet, you enter everybody in every possible event they can qualify for,” Looze said. “But if there’s no chance they can score, we pair down. Especially in Laura Ryan’s situation, an athlete’s health is always more important than a place or two in the national rankings.”However, in a meet where earning points is such a rare opportunity, Vavra capitalized on the opportunities she had. By finishing sixth in the 200-yard IM prelims, second in the 400-yard IM prelims and eighth in the 200-yard breast prelims, she guaranteed the Hoosiers points for the overall competition. After finishing eighth in the 200 IM finals (1:56.60), fifth in the 400 IM finals (4:01.73) and eighth in the 200 breast finals (2:09.61), Vavra compiled 36 points for the Hoosiers, or 31 percent of IU’s total scoring output.“I definitely am happy that I placed higher this year and made big finals in all of my events, but I’m kind of disappointed in my times,” Vavra said. “My points really helped our team, though, especially because we only were entered in one relay.”Sophomore Lindsay Vrooman also improved her standing from the 2011 NCAA Championships, where she finished 26th in the 500-yard freestyle and 28th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. This meet, the sophomore finished eighth in the 500-free in a time of 4:42.13, and then sixth in the 1,650-free in a time of 15:56.85, making her a two-event All-American in the process.“It’s been a huge improvement, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer person,” Looze said. “Our team was so excited for her success. A year ago at this time, she set her mind to certain goals that she wanted to accomplish for the collegiate season, and it’s safe to say she was one of our hardest workers.”The Hoosiers were also able to earn points through the diving portion of the competition, as Ryan finished 12th in the 1-meter dive with a score of 307.55 and eighth in the 3-meter dive, scoring 330.40 in the process. In addition, junior Amy Cozad placed third on the platform dive, finishing with 329.35 points on a total of only five dives. “Personally, I am very proud of myself and Laura for how we did,” Cozad said. “It was really cool to come back from the World Cup and show everyone that we’re good individually, too. I think we redeemed our London performance, in a way.”Though the collegiate season has ended for the Hoosiers, and the team will lose the likes of Farrell, Brittany Strumbel and Nikki White on the swimming end, the Hoosiers will add a top-13 recruiting class and could retain Vavra next season.“There’s a possibility Allysa could get another year of eligibility, so she’s not necessarily done,” Looze said. “I think we have a great foundation in place. We’re extremely excited about our future, so I’m very optimistic.”
(03/15/12 3:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Heading into the women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held from Thursday to Saturday in Auburn, Ala., IU Coach Ray Looze said this team is unlikely to win the team’s first-ever NCAA title. With 11 swimmers competing in 12 events, including the 800-yard freestyle relay, plus two divers as well, Looze said that while this team is unlikely to win a national title, a long-standing goal is well within reach. In the 2005, the Hoosiers finished ninth at the NCAA Championships. These athletes hope to break that feat.“We have a chance to finish with our highest national ranking ever,” Looze said. “Although our ultimate goals are to get to a national title, you have to build to get to that point, and have a nice, realistic, step-by-step to do that.”Throughout the season, swimmers from IU have been working to achieve certain time standards so that they could qualify for the NCAA Championships. As 11 swimmers have reached that goal, the Hoosiers will have ample opportunities to score points and improve on last season’s 15th-place finish. Leading the way for the Hoosiers will be senior Margaux Farrell, who will be competing in four events: the 500-, 200- and 100-yard freestyles, and will be a part of the 800-yard freestyle relay team. Not only will she have to swim at least a mile of competition at the NCAA Championships, but only one day after NCAA Championships end, Farrell and freshman Justine Ress, also competing at NCAA’s, will board a plane en route to Dunkerque, France. There, they will compete in the French Olympic Trials, held this year from March 18-25. “I trained myself to be used to this (trio) of meets in a row since I was a freshman, so that when I would do it my senior year, the year of the Olympics, I would be ready to handle the trip,” Farrell said. “So while I know it is going to be exhausting and mentally challenging, I have been getting myself ready for this for a long time now.”Senior Allysa Vavra will also hope to get the Hoosiers’ second-ever NCAA swimming title. A school record holder in the 200-yard breaststroke, and 200- and 400-yard individual medley, Vavra will be a top-ten seed in each of those three events. Having not won an NCAA title in her career, this will be Vavra’s last opportunity to achieve her goal. “I'm not going into the meet thinking I will win an event; if it's meant to happen, it will,” Vavra said. “Right now it's more important to focus on myself and if I have the confidence, I am really capable of anything.”With this being the final opportunity for swimmers like Farrell and Vavr, and seniors Brittany Strumbel and Nikki White to win their first NCAA title in their careers, all their hard work over the last four years will culminate in this final meet. Win or lose, Farrell knows that there is not much she can do, as she has put in her total effort. “It would obviously be awesome to win a title at NCAAs whether it be relay or individual, but I’m not trying to focus so literally on the meet,” Farrell said. “I’m taking it one race at a time, one day at a time and giving it my all each time I step up on the block. So whatever the outcome is, I’ll be happy with it because I know there was nothing more I could have done.”
(03/09/12 3:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Heading into this season, sophomore diver Darian Schmidt had never eclipsed 400 points in the 3-meter dive, and junior diver Zac Nees had won only one event in his entire career.Now, with two weeks remaining until the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Wash., Schmidt is a Big Ten Champion, having scored the school record of 459.30 points in the 3-meter at the meet. Nees won seven events this year.After Thursday’s action at the NCAA Zone C Championships in Bloomington, the two can add yet another accolade to this season. Both Schmidt and Nees will advance to the NCAA Championships from March 22-24 after both finished in the top three in the 3-meter diving competition."It means all of our hard work throughout the season has paid off," Nees said. "Darian and I push each other a lot during practice, so it was nice to qualify along with him."Schmidt won the NCAA Zone C title after posting a score of 769.90 during a 12-dive span, though it came down to the final dive. After Schmidt’s 10th dive, he led Ohio State’s Shane Miszkiel by a 34.4-point margin. However, on his 11th dive, Schmidt scored only 40.25 points. After a 72.85-point dive by Miszkiel, the Buckeye had drawn within 1.8 points of Schmidt, but he was able to hold off Miszkiel on the final dive.Nees scored 146.55 points in his 10th and 11th dives to put himself in position to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships. On the last dive, had Nees scored more than 81.35 points, he would have won the title. However, he scored 64.6 points on his dive, still good for third place and an NCAA bid.In the women’s 1-meter dive, though no Hoosiers earned bids to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, IU had three top-10 finishers in the event. Senior Gabby Agostino was the highest finisher for the Hoosiers, as she placed seventh with a score of 573.85. Sophomore Laura Ryan finished in eighth with a score of 569.65, and sophomore Kate Hillman earned a score of 560.35 en route to a 10th-place finish. In addition, junior Amy Cozad finished 14th for the Hoosiers with a score of 529.80.Friday’s action will include the men’s 1-meter and the women’s 3-meter dives, as the Hoosiers look to seal more bids for their respective NCAA Championships. The top three finishers in each event who have not already qualified will advance to the championships.On Saturday, both the men and women will compete in the platform dive, in which the highest finisher who has not already qualified for nationals will make it.Nees said after qualifying on the first day, the final two will be much more relaxing."Coming in my plan was to try to qualify the first day so that I could relax and just dive the rest of the competition," Nees said. "I am really pleased with the results."
(03/08/12 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Starting Thursday, IU’s diving team will compete in the 2012 NCAA Zone C Diving Championships in Bloomington with the potential for divers to qualify for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships later this month.Throughout the span of the next three days, 113 divers will compete for 14 spots — seven spots per gender — for the NCAA Championships, with the top three finishers in the 1- and 3-meter and the top finisher in the platform dives advancing.With 15 Hoosiers competing, the pressure is on for the team to qualify divers for the NCAA Championships.“Only seven men and seven women will advance from this meet to the championship, so it will be tough,” IU Diving Coach Jeff Huber said. “Last year, the defending NCAA champion did not make it out of the zone meet. There will be some good divers at this meet that won’t advance.”Also competing will be Big Ten Champions Bianca Alvarez, Shane Miszkiel and Cheyenne Cousineau from OSU. With divers from 25 Midwest schools competing, IU will have fierce competition.“We are strong in all events and will therefore contest each event,” Huber said. “I think we learned a few things from Big Tens and will be better prepared for the zone meet.”IU divers include Big Ten 3-meter champion sophomore Darian Schmidt, who set the school record twice at the Championships. Schmidt recorded scores of 445.90 and 459.30 at the Big Ten Championships in February. “Darian has practiced very well and seems focused and dialed to what he wants to do to perform well at the NCAA Zone Championship,” Huber said. “It has been rewarding for me to watch his maturation as a diver and team leader ever since his high school state meet.”Sophomore Laura Ryan and junior Amy Cozad will also be competing. They missed this past month’s Big Ten Championships because of the FINA Diving World Cup in London. The duo finished 10th in the 10-meter synchronized platform dive, just outside of qualifying the United States for the Olympics in the event. For this meet, both will be competing in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform dives.“We are, of course, excited to have both divers back and representing IU,” Huber said. “I know they are happy to be back and are excited for the meet.”The qualifiers will compete at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships from March 15-17 in Auburn, Ala., while the men who qualify will compete in Federal Way, Wash., from March 22-24. Huber said the Hoosiers are ready to make a mark at the zone meet. “I think the divers have a good mindset for the competition,” Huber said. “They are definitely ready to perform even better than they did at Big Tens.”
(03/07/12 5:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Only one day before trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials in one of her favorite events, the 100-meter freestyle, IU sophomore swimmer Sara Delay found herself in the hospital with her life about to change. A 21-year-old from Concord, Calif., Delay was one of IU’s best freestyle sprinters as a freshman. She helped the Hoosiers win their third consecutive Big Ten title and was a member of an All-America freestyle relay team. She also qualified for an Olympic Trials spot in the 50-yard freestyle two weeks earlier, her life-long dream.However, on that day, Aug. 1, 2011, one day before she was expected to compete with her teammates in the 2011 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., a mere hour’s drive from home, Delay was admitted to Stanford Hospital with stomach pain.She spent the next 19 days in the hospital before leaving with a diagnosis of colitis and her way of life permanently altered.“We brought her out to nationals in the summer, and we were with her when she was admitted to the hospital, and we all just thought it would be something quick,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “She was even hopeful of swimming at the summer nationals, and then she was in a week, she was in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, you know? It just got worse and worse and worse.”When Delay was released from Stanford Hospital on Aug. 20, 2011, her teammates had already returned to Bloomington with school about to begin. With her lingering illness, Delay faced a sobering reality: She wasn’t healthy enough to return to school.“I just found out that the way my recovery was going to be, it would take me a really long time to get back to where I was my freshman year,” Delay said. “I didn’t want to waste my year of eligibility, so the coaches and I thought it was a good idea for me to redshirt so that I could have it back for next year.”Unfortunately for Delay, her first hospitalization was one of many to come. As her colitis became more severe, Delay, with the help of her family, decided to have her colon removed Nov. 2, 2011. While her teammates trained nearly 2,000 miles away only days after a dual meet against Michigan and Texas, Delay lay in a hospital bed at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, about to undergo a life-changing surgery.“It was an emotional time, and I didn’t know what to think because I was 20 years old and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how could this be happening to me?’” Delay said. “It was a really hard time, and I knew it was the right thing for me to do to have my colon removed because I had no choice.”It’s been a long road for recovery ever since. After being released from UCSF one week after her surgery, she returned only 24 hours later due to an obstruction in her stomach, something Delay recalls being extremely painful. After being close to another surgery, Delay had to have a tube inserted through her nose to have the excess stomach fluids removed. Delay avoided a second surgery. However, she spent another week in the hospital.“It was a terrible night for me, and I seriously thought I wasn’t going to survive,” Delay said. “I thank UCSF Hospital for saving me. The only thing I hated the most was having a nose tube down my throat but that was the thing that was saving my life.”After her third hospitalization, Delay was released. Since then, she has not been in pain and has worked endlessly to get back in the pool. By late December, she was swimming again.“For most people, they just think that after they have this tragedy happen, they can’t go back to where they were, that they have to hide in a hole and they can’t go back to the things they love,” Delay said. “But for me, it wasn’t that way. Once I got out of the hospital, all I could think about was when would I get back in the water to compete and swim for IU and get back to my life.”Although she was unable to be in Indiana to support her team from the stands, Delay has been the swimming and diving team’s No. 1 fan.She consistently posted on teammates’ Facebook walls, wishing them luck, and even sent both the men’s and women’s teams cookie bouquets before their respective Big Ten Championships. She also sends the team text messages regularly. Looze confessed she is big on using emoticons. The day before the women’s Big Ten Championship started, the team dedicated the meet in Delay’s honor.“When I heard that, I never even thought of anyone doing that for me, and it made me cry actually,” Delay said. “That just meant that my teammates love me so much, and I love them too, and it was really cool that they did that for me. That’s what an IU team should be. They should help each other out through tough times.”Though her team finished second for that meet, Delay’s positivity throughout her entire ordeal inspired her teammates to perform to the best of their ability in the tough times, something that Delay herself lives by day in and day out.“Sara is one of the happiest people you’ll ever meet and loved swimming more than anyone,” senior Margaux Farrell said. “We decided she would be our inspiration for Big Ten’s at the beginning of the year when we found out she wouldn’t be coming back. It helps us remember that there is always a bigger purpose and how grateful we should be.”Delay is slowly returning to her normal routine. Though she remains home in California, Delay plans to return to IU in May, when she will begin training for the Olympic Trials — with her teammates. She also expects to return to swim for IU next season.“She’s still got a long road to recovery, but if anyone can do it, it will be Sara,” Looze said. “A 20-year-old girl shouldn’t lose her colon. That’s for 60- and 70-year-old people, and that’s still tough. But if there’s anyone that’s going to overcome this, it will be her.”
(02/27/12 3:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The situation was all too familiar to IU’s men’s swimming and diving team.After the platform dive drew the Hoosiers 1.5 points away from second place at the Big Ten Championships on Saturday, with only the 400-yard freestyle relay left in the entire competition, the Hoosiers had one last chance to jump Ohio State in the standings.The Hoosiers had done it before. On Friday, the 3-meter dive gave IU a lead against the Buckeyes, only for the team to lose it on the next race due to a false start on the final leg of the 400-yard medley relay.On Saturday, however, the Hoosiers were unable to finish higher than Ohio State in the 400 free relay, sealing a third-place finish with a total of 549 points, only 3.5 behind second-place Ohio State. Michigan won the title with 738.5 points.“There was just exceptional team chemistry,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “With everything we had to overcome, disqualifying a relay and losing 32 points there and not giving up, and Ryan Hinshaw fighting through his serious back injury to score in two events, I just have so much respect for the men.”Though IU started and ended the Big Ten Championships each day in third place, multiple record-setting dives and swims led by sophomore diver Darian Schmidt, sophomore swimmer Cody Miller and junior swimmer Sam Trahin allowed the Hoosiers to stay close to second-place Ohio State.Before starting the Big Ten Championships, Schmidt had never even eclipsed 400 points during the 3-meter dive in multiple attempts throughout his career. On Friday, that changed. During preliminaries, Schmidt easily broke the 400-point barrier, scoring 445.90 — not only a career-best, but the IU record, as well. Later that night, Schmidt set the record yet again, scoring 459.30 in the finals, good for his first career Big Ten title.The good fortunes continued for the Hoosiers as Miller, the defending Big Ten Champion in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, won each title for the second straight year, and in a record-setting fashion, as well. In the 100-yard on Friday, Miller raced a career-best time of 52.34 in the process of earning his third career Big Ten title, a school record.The following day, Miller raced the school’s second-best time ever of 1:54.07 en route to his fourth career title and second of the meet.“I’m pretty happy with my 200 breast,” Miller said. “I really wanted to break 1:54, but I’m OK with it. When I bent over on the block, my suit ripped in the ass, and that got my adrenaline pumping, so I took it out a little fast and accidentally changed my race strategy.”Following Miller’s first title in the 100-yard breaststroke, IU sophomore James Wells upset Michigan’s Miguel Ortiz in the 100-yard backstroke, winning his first career title in a time of 46.30. Wells’ time was not only his career best, but it was also only 0.03 seconds faster than Ortiz, who had finished first in prelims by a 0.16-second margin.“I knew before the race that Ortiz was going to be gaining on me during the last 25 of the 100 back,” Wells said. “My race strategy going into it was to build each 25 and try to get out ahead of Ortiz and then just give it everything I had during that last 25. I figured at that point, it would be a battle of mental toughness and who wanted to win it more, so that’s what I tried to prepare myself for beforehand.”Though IU did not win another title out of the four among Schmidt, Wells and Miller, Trahin did earn a school record in the 400-yard individual medley in a fourth-place effort. Trahin’s time of 3:46.49 was also the best of his career.The Hoosiers also picked up significant points from sophomore diver Emad Abdelatif, who had planned on redshirting this season before competing this past weekend. Abdelatif, who was training to represent Egypt in the FINA Diving World Cup, was told by the Egyptian government only days earlier that he could no longer compete, and he instead decided to participate in the Big Ten Championships and avoid the redshirt season. Abdelatif ended up finishing fourth in the 1-meter dive, 15th in the 3-meter dive and 11th in the platform dive. He also picked up IU’s Sportsmanship Award for the Championships.“He was our sportsman of the year because of that. You would have never known that he had just suffered just a totally crushing setback, having an Olympic opportunity extinguished,” Looze said. “You just would have never known that with his attitude at this meet, so I’m just proud all the way around.”IU Diving Coach Jeff Huber was also named Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year, the 14th of his career. Despite the season being over for most swimmers, seven members of the Hoosiers’ swimming team will compete in the NCAA Championships from March 22-24 in Federal Way, Wash. The Hoosiers could potentially send more, depending on how their divers do in the NCAA Zone C Championships, which will be from March 8-10 in Bloomington.“We had lots of success as a team, and I am very proud of them,” Miller said. “Though it’s disappointing we finished third because we know we are better than that, next year’s Big Ten Championships will be a different story because we are only getting better.”
(02/23/12 4:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As Indiana’s quest for its first men’s swimming and diving Big Ten title in six years began Wednesday, the Hoosiers found themselves 20 points behind at the end of the day.After the first day of competition at the Campus Wellness and Recreation Center at the University of Iowa, the Hoosiers currently stand in third place with 60 points, 20 behind leading Michigan, which won both events thus far.The Hoosiers started off the night with the 200-yard medley relay, as the team of junior Daniel Kanorr, sophomores James Wells and Cody Miller and freshman Steve Schmuhl finished in fourth place with a time of 1:25.79. Their time was not only an NCAA B Cut, it was also the third-fastest time in school history, only .42 seconds shy of the school record.Following the medley relay, the Hoosiers finished fourth again in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:25.85, an NCAA B Cut time. The team of seniors John Schnittker and Tyler Shedron, junior Jim Barbiere and Schmuhl also set the second-best time in school history in the event, four seconds slower than the school record set in 2011.IU also finished first in the 3-meter synchronized diving exhibition, as the duo of junior Mick Dell’Orco and sophomore Darian Schmidt scored a 326.49 to lead the way for the Hoosiers.Day two of the Big Ten Championships starts at 1:00 p.m. Thursday with preliminaries in the 500- and 50-yard freestyles, 200-yard Individual Medley and 1-meter dive.— Jordan Littman
(02/22/12 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Only three days after IU’s women’s swimming and diving team finished second at the Big Ten Championships, the men’s team is on the road back to Iowa City, Iowa.The No. 11 men’s team is preparing for the start of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday in its quest to earn its 25th conference title and first since 2006.“The past two weeks, as we’ve tapered down, the guys have swam faster than we ever have before,” sophomore swimmer Cody Miller said. “The team is feeling really confident going into the meet. We know we are going to do some great things.”The Hoosiers are coming off last year’s Big Ten performance, during which they earned a second-place finish, only 74 points behind the eventual champion, Michigan. This season they faced the Wolverines twice and have lost on both occasions.“Yeah, we lost to them in season, but that doesn’t matter,” Miller said. “No one cares what happens in a dual meet at the end of the year. The only thing that matters is the final meet, where it all counts.”During this past year’s Big Ten Championships, IU won only three events, two of which were from Miller in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races. Though junior Eric Ress, the other winner, will not compete due to his preparation for the French Olympic Trials, the athletes said they are optimistic they will get more wins. “It’s going to take all of us performing better than we ever have before, which we are absolutely prepared to do, especially our younger guys,” Miller said. “We have a large group of young guys and freshmen who are still under the radar, but they are all ready to prove themselves at this meet.”One of the people IU hopes can provide them with some wins is junior diver Zac Nees, who has won seven events this season, compared to one during his first two seasons. “My diving was really in a slump during this championship meet last season, and that taught me that everyone has their day to shine,” he said. “I learned that anyone can step up in finals, and to never take anything for granted.”IU also has returning junior divers Mick Dell’Orco and Casey Johnson and sophomores Darian Schmidt and Conor Murphy.“The divers are all really confident that we can play a huge role in the outcome of this meet,” Nees said. “Michigan does not really have any of the top divers in the Big Ten, so we have to get every point we can in order to win.”The Hoosiers should also get a boost from freshman Steve Schmuhl and junior Sam Trahin. Schmuhl, who is 6-feet-8-inches tall, currently owns the IU top times this season in the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, and he is a member of the top time teams of the 400-yard freestyle relay, 800-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay. In addition, Trahin owns the two top times in the 400-yard Individual Medley this season and has top-five times in the 200-yard IM and 200-yard breaststroke.Schmuhl said he is excited for his fist opportunity at the Big Ten Championships.“I hope to have a great impact at my first Big Tens,” Schmuhl said. “I’m going with some pretty good times, so I’m hoping to really help the team out in the 200 backstroke because Ress, last year’s Big Ten champ, is redshirting this season.”The key for IU, Miller said, is to do well in preliminaries so that it has the opportunity to earn points in finals. If that happens, he said, the team has a good shot to win.“(Winning) would mean everything to our team,” Nees said. “That is our goal, and achieving it would make every struggle and hardship we went through this season worth it. We have to have an incredible meet in order to win, but it is definitely in the realm of possibility.”
(02/21/12 2:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More than 4,000 miles away from where their teammates were battling in the Big Ten Championships, IU divers junior Amy Cozad, sophomore Laura Ryan and IU Diving Coach Jeff Huber intently followed the results of the competition live online.They couldn’t be in Iowa City, Iowa, helping IU in its quest for a fourth consecutive Big Ten title. Instead, they were at the Olympic Village in London, preparing for an opportunity of a lifetime. On Wednesday, Cozad and Ryan will compete in the FINA Diving World Cup in the women’s 10-meter synchronized dive, with the opportunity to qualify the United States for the 2012 London Olympics.“In London, right now, it is such a unique experience to be in the Olympic Park and training in the Olympic Pool,” Ryan said. “It really is a dream come true to be over here, but we know we have a job to get done.”The chance to reach this came from the 2012 USA Diving Winter National Championships in December 2011 in Knoxville, Tenn., where the duo competed in the 10-meter synchronized dive against teams that had been in the Olympics in 2008 and teams that had beaten them only two weeks prior. If they finished in first place, they would qualify for the World Cup, in which the world’s best divers would compete.“It came down to our last dive, and we had to hit that dive well to win,” Cozad said. “We were the last team of the competition. We had to score big, and everyone in the crowd was biting their nails counting on us. Given such a high-pressured situation, Laura and I used our trust in each other, in our coaches and our training to keep us focused and ready to show the audience what we had been working on.”The pair defeated the 2008 USA Olympics team of Mary-Beth Dunnichay and Haley Ishimatsu by a mere 6.12 points, sealing their trip to the World Cup. “I remember looking up at the scoreboard and seeing we’d won and just thinking how great it felt to know that all our hard work was paying off,” Ryan said. “Being an athlete at this level comes with a lot of sacrifices, and to have a meet like that just makes it all that much more worth it.”Soon after that meet, however, they realized the World Cup would intervene with the timeline of the Big Ten Championships. Faced with the tough choice, Huber and IU Coach Ray Looze agreed that the divers’ Olympic dreams were more important. With that, the pair headed to London with Huber as their trainer.While the two divers and Huber were only able to keep up with the meet via the Internet, the IU swimming and diving team placed second in the Big Ten Championships.“It was very bittersweet,” Ryan said. “I was beyond excited to be given this opportunity to compete in London, but there was definitely a part of me that wishes I were able to compete at Big Tens. But it came down to a choice, and I knew the team would be understanding. They have always been such a great support system.”The pair has trained with Huber for about a week in London. The two will compete against the best synchronized divers in the world from 13 other countries. Four countries have already qualified, and if the two Hoosiers finish in the top four of the remaining nine competitors, the U.S. ticket will be booked for the London 2012 Olympics. The pair would then have to qualify for a spot for themselves at the Olympic Trials in June in Seattle.“We are one of the best synchro teams in the world, and we proved that in Tennessee,” Cozad said. “I imagined this opportunity many times, and we have put in the hard work and dedication to get here. Now it’s time to show the rest of the world why we are the best.”
(02/20/12 4:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With only two events to go in the Big Ten Championships, the IU women’s swimming and diving team had its closest deficit from first-place Minnesota since Wednesday, the first day of the competition.As the Hoosiers trailed by only 4.5 points after the 200-yard butterfly and started the day 40 points behind, the team had an opportunity to get its first lead of the entire meet and, in turn, earn its fourth-consecutive Big Ten title. The platform dive and 400-yard freestyle relay were the only events remaining.Unfortunately for IU, that magical comeback never came as the Gophers sealed their fourth Big Ten title in the final event of the championships, beating the Hoosiers by a 680.4-651 margin. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team under more pressure than this group was under,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “To be as down by as many as we were going into the last day, to rally the way we did. I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of a group.“Even though we fell short of winning the championship, more was achieved by overcoming adversity, by not giving up and by finding a way to break through when everyone was counting us out.”The Hoosiers’ overall performance was led by senior swimmer Allysa Vavra, who set three school records during the four-day meet and earned the Swimmer of the Championships award. Vavra’s most notable performance came in the 400-yard individual medley, in which her time of 4:01.41 in the finals not only set the school and Big Ten records by nearly a three-second margin, but was also the third-fastest of any collegiate swimmer this season and the 15th-fastest ever recorded.“The time is really good, but I am still looking to go faster at NCAAs,” Vavra said. “The 400 IM is my best, so I am comfortable and used to performing at a high level. I know what I am capable of, so I just used it to my advantage. Hopefully, at NCAAs I can go under four minutes.”Vavra also set the school record in the 200-yard individual medley twice Thursday — once in preliminaries and again in the finals. Her final time of 1:55.44 was only 0.03 seconds shy of the conference record, but was good enough for the Big Ten Championships meet record and an NCAA A Cut qualifying mark. On Saturday, in a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke finals, Vavra broke her own school record with a time of 2:08.79, also an NCAA A Cut qualifying time. “I’m not really surprised that I swam well un-tapered,” Vavra said. “I know I am capable of swimming fast tired, and I think it just comes down to being confident in yourself and trusting your training. I also have been to this meet before and knew what to expect of myself, so I just tried my hardest, and if that resulted in best times, then that’s even better.”IU also set a Big Ten record in the second event of the entire meet in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of seniors Brittany Strumbel, Margaux Farrell and Nikki White along with sophomore Lindsay Vrooman combined for a first-place time of 7:00.82, an NCAA A Cut qualifying mark, and the second-fastest of any team in the country this season. “It was exciting to set that record and show that we are a presence in that relay,” Farrell said. “Hopefully, we will get to showcase what we’re capable of on the national scene at Auburn at NCAAs.”Vrooman provided the only other win for the Hoosiers during the meet by winning the 1,650-yard freestyle Saturday with a time of 16:00.44, the third-fastest in school history and her first career individual Big Ten title. In all three diving events, senior Gabby Agostino came up big for the Hoosiers by finishing in the top eight. Agsotino finished fourth in the 1-meter, third in the 3-meter and sixth in the platform, carrying the team on her back while two of IU’s top divers, junior Amy Cozad and sophomore Laura Ryan, were not in attendance for the meet. The duo is currently in London preparing for the synchronized diving competition at next week’s FINA Diving World Cup.“I think our diving team fought hard through this competition,” Agostino said. “Half of the divers that went to the meet were injured and hadn’t been training. They stepped up for the team and dove the best they could.” Despite never holding the lead, the Hoosiers went from being in third place after day two to second after day three, only 40 points behind Minnesota. After the Hoosiers trimmed the deficit to 4.5 points, the closest they had been since the 800-yard freestyle relay, Minnesota extended the lead to 23.5 points after having three top-16 finishers in the platform dive, compared to IU’s one.Coming down to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Hoosiers actually had an opportunity to win it all. Had Minnesota finished seventh or worse, and had the Hoosiers won the event, Indiana would have been crowned Big Ten champions for the fourth consecutive time. That hope never came to fruition, as the Hoosiers finished in sixth and the Gophers in third.“I thought that, after the prelims yesterday, we had a chance,” Looze said. “I thought we put ourselves in position, and we needed the mile and the platform to go well to finish it off. We got within four points before the platform, but they extended the lead, and at that point there was just not enough points to close the gap. We had to be perfect to win, but we did what we could do with the players we had available.”Though the season is over for some, the team will start training today for the NCAA Championships, which will take place from March 15 to 17 in Auburn, Ala. This past year, the Hoosiers finished in 15th place, and the team will try to improve this year.“There’s always something that you can look back on, that you could have done better, whether that be from the coaches, swimmers or divers, so we’ll go back to the drawing board to try to get it right,” Looze said. “I think we’ve got a real good team moving into the NCAAs, and our goal now is to finish as high as we have in our history. I think we’ve got a good enough team to be able to do that.”
(02/17/12 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Despite another record-setting day at the Big Ten Championships, Indiana’s women’s swimming and diving team has a lot of work to do if it wants a fourth consecutive Big Ten title.Though IU won three of the four preliminaries held earlier in the day, the Hoosiers were only able to garner one victory in the finals out of the five races, leaving the Hoosiers in third place with 203 points, trailing first place Minnesota by 32 points and second place Ohio State by 19. Senior swimmer Allysa Vavra set the school record in the 200-yard Individual Medley on Thursday not once, but twice. In the preliminaries, Vavra finished her heat with a time of 1:56.36, beating her career-best and school record time of 1:56.80, set at the Georgia Invitational earlier this season. Thursday night, during her finals heat, Vavra not only set the school record, but the Big Ten record by finishing with a time of 1:55.44, winning the race as well. Vavra’s time was also good for an NCAA A-Cut Qualifying Time.After sophomore Lindsay Vrooman won the preliminaries in the 500-yard freestyle race, Vrooman ended up finishing in second in the finals heat with a time of 4:39.64, her career-best time. For senior Brittany Strumbel, her third-place finish in preliminaries was followed by a fourth-place ending in the finals heat, finishing with a time of 4:41.57, good for an NCAA B-Cut qualifying time. IU’s surprise finisher though was from freshman Lauren Jordan, who posted the fifth-fastest time in the finals with a time of 4:41.86, her career best by nearly a four second margin. However, Jordan competed in the consolation heat, meaning that her time actually earned a ninth-place finish. In the 1-meter diving competition, despite senior Gabby Agostino winning the preliminaries and leading with two rounds to go in the finals, Ohio State senior Bianca Alvarez posted two huge scores of 67.6 and 66.3 to defeat Agostino and take the Big Ten title. In fact, Agostino ended in fourth place with a score of 331.15, still good for a career-best mark. Sophomore Kate Hillman finished in eighth in the competition, senior Christina Kouklakis in 11th and freshman Kathryn Connolly in 15th. The 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle relay were not very favorable for the Hoosiers, however. Senior Margaux Farrell was the highest finisher for IU in the 50-yard free with a time of 23.00, good for 12th place overall, and in the 200-yard free relay, the Hoosiers finished in sixth despite earning the third fastest time in school history (1:30.85). That race was swam by seniors Margaux Farrell and Brittany Strumbel, sophomore Stephanie Armstrong and freshman Justine Ress. The Hoosiers will get their next opportunity to earn points tomorrow in seven events, including the 400-yard medley relay, the 100 fly, breast and back, the 200 free and the 3-meter dive. The action will begin at noon EST with preliminaries, and finals will begin starting at 7:30 p.m. EST.