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(03/01/09 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Upon completion of the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette Saturday, No. 7 IU men’s swimming and diving team placed fifth with 449.5 points, 379.5 behind champion No. 4 Michigan. No. 9 Ohio State was second, followed by Minnesota and No. 14 Purdue. Despite two nights of struggle, coaches and swimmers alike agreed that Saturday night’s action was full of positives. “We had a really good last day. That was the most important thing for us,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “If we had performed like that all week, we would have placed second.” Junior Aaron Opell and freshman Eric Ress carried the Hoosiers Saturday night with a pair of second place finishes in the 200-back and 200-breast respectively. Ress broke Michael Phelps’ age group record in the event. “I had heard all the hype, I’d talked to alumni and I knew how special it is with how much emotion (Big Tens) evokes,” Ress said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way things went.” Having only one A cut for the NCAA Championships in March, the Hoosiers plan to time trial to get more swimmers into the national meet. “We have to try to get some more NCAA qualifiers,” Looze said. “Next is to get back and do some training.”
(02/28/09 8:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With one night remaining in the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, the IU men’s swimming and diving team eyes a best-case-scenario second place finish, but in order to do so, has its work cut out for it. Coming into Friday’s action, the No. 7 Hoosiers held a second place tie with No. 11 Minnesota at 154 points, while No. 4 Michigan held a comfortable lead. Once the events wrapped up Friday, Michigan ballooned its score to 588.5, increasing its lead to 231, and the Hoosiers found themselves slipping. No. 9 Ohio State holds second place, followed by Minnesota and No. 14 Purdue. At 285.5, IU is 72 points out of second. Freshman Eric Ress continued his strong showing at Big Tens with a second place finish in the 100-back. Ress posted two career bests Thursday in the 500-free. The Big Ten Championships wrap up Saturday with preliminaries and finals in the 200-back, 100-free, 200-breast, 200-fly, 1650-free, 400-free and platform diving. Preliminaries begin at noon, finals at 7 p.m.
(02/27/09 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After the first night of the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, the No. 7 IU men’s swimming and diving team finds itself in a second place tie with No. 11 Minnesota. Down 123.5 to No. 4 Michigan, it is now a battle for second place with the Gophers, according to IU coach Ray Looze. Both teams have 154 points. “Realistically we are fortunate to be where we are. We are swimming for second place now,” Looze said. “We need to be concerned with ourselves. Michigan has the best team here, and they proved that tonight.” IU followed a strong morning preliminary session with somewhat of a lackluster finals session. With the exception of senior captain Matt Lenton’s third place effort in the 50 free, IU scored no higher than fifth in any swimming event. “We’re in a battle, that’s for sure,” Looze said. “We told the guys to come out swinging tomorrow.” Friday’s events begin at noon with 400-IM, 100-butterfly, 200-free, 100-breast, 100-back and three-meter diving preliminaries. Finals begin at 7 p.m.
(02/26/09 5:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Although the IU men’s swimming and diving team has not competed since Feb. 7, in preparation for this weekend’s Big Ten Championships its three senior captains have been anything but quiet. “We are going to win Big Tens,” Heath Tameris said Monday at the team’s final practice before going to West Lafayette. He later added, “We are taking over this conference.” Justin Peterfish agreed. “We will be champions if we do what we need to get done,” Peterfish said. “I see us walking away with a title this week.” Even Matt Lenton had a prediction. “I have told my team that I have 100 percent confidence we are going to win this weekend,” Lenton said. “That is going to be the result.” Those who follow Big Ten swimming and diving know that No. 7 IU is no favorite for the conference crown, considering that six of the 11 teams in the Big Ten are ranked nationally. The most notable foe, as IU coach Ray Looze pointed out, is No. 4 Michigan, who beat the Hoosiers twice this season.“We got spanked,” Looze said. “But you go up against the best schools for a reason. They have to show up and so do we.” IU lost to the Wolverines 227-151 Nov. 1 in Ann Arbor, Mich., and 176-104 Jan. 10 in Bloomington.The captains said they are not arrogant. Instead, their attitude serves to feed confidence to their teammates. They said the challenge is getting the smash-mouth mentality to drive the team’s physical ability.“We are not favored at all,” Tameris said. “Outside the 30 or so people going with us to Big Tens, no one believes it. So the more we talk about it, the more we are preparing to win.” Looze said the captains’ confidence will be instrumental for the team’s psyche when the three-day meet starts Thursday night. “It’s the most important thing,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the coaches think.” Despite IU’s recent history against Michigan, the captains said they have good reason to believe they will give a strong showing and that their confident attitude is no act. Tameris said each team is only allowed 21 swimmers and five divers to compete in the conference championship. As of Saturday morning, four spots needed filling, so the team held an eight-man, four-event swim-off. “Each guy put up scores that would place top eight at Big Tens,” Tameris said. “And those are our bottom four. Yes, we lost to Michigan twice this year, but we are swimming lights-out.” Lights-out could be useful, considering IU is unfamiliar with this year’s in-conference competition. The only other Big Ten schools they faced this season were No. 9 Ohio State, Northwestern and No. 14 Purdue. The Hoosiers were victorious in all three meets. Regardless of this season’s successes and failures, the captains are sure IU’s past is behind them, and what they bring to Big Tens is all that matters. “It really comes down to how we are going to approach this meet,” Lenton said. “Character is what is going to come through at the end of the day.”
(02/23/09 5:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A fourth Big Ten Championship banner will hang from the east wall of IU’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.Between Wednesday night’s opening events and Saturday’s 400-meter freestyle relay at Michigan, the IU women’s swimming and diving team accumulated 823 points, scoring 158 more than the rest of the field. The Hoosiers’ effort was good enough to dethrone defending titleholder Minnesota and earn them another championship.“It was such a wonderful transformation to watch,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “The swimmers and divers trained so hard this year. To see it materialize this year, I can’t give any more credit than possible to these swimmers and divers.”IU scored 174 points in diving over the course of the week. Big Ten runner-up Minnesota did not bring any divers to Ann Arbor.“For Minnesota not to bring any divers, it was just a major plus for us. We used it to our advantage,” said senior and Big Ten Diver of the Year Christina Loukas. “Three-meter (springboard) is my main event. I just focused on taking one thing at a time, focusing on myself. It was just nice being able to have two of my teammates on the stands with me.”The Gophers struck first Wednesday, jumping out to an early lead. But by the time Thursday night was over, the Hoosier divers were able to claim the lead for IU – a theme revisited again and again all weekend.Between the lane lines, the Hoosiers’ showing was equally impressive.Freshman Nikki White and junior Kate Zubkova posted three conference records between them. White set the 500-meter freestyle record during Thursday’s preliminary, only to break it by more than one second in the final. Zubkova set conference records in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke and was named the 2009 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year.“We knew that if we swam like we were capable of swimming, it would pay off,” said senior captain Sarah Stockwell, who swam as the second leg of the winning 400-meter medley team. “I am so proud of our girls. We went so fast and posted times we never thought we would.”Those times were good enough to earn IU four first-place finishes. Four Hoosier swimmers and two relay teams made an A cut for the NCAA Championships, while eight more made a B cut.“We are hoping to get about 13 swimmers to the meet, but we still have to see the results from around the country,” Looze said. “We’re happy with this result, but we feel we can swim faster than we swam. We really want to make a showing.”
(02/22/09 9:51pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s swimming and diving team won its first conference championship since 2007 on Saturday night, gathering 823 points and topping second place No. 10 Minnesota by 158 points at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium.With the score fluctuating back and forth, alternating the championship lead between the Hoosiers and the Golden Gophers, IU took a commanding lead Friday after the three-meter springboards and never looked back.Saturday’s action began with junior Kate Zubkova’s 3.96-second win over Minnesota’s Jenny Shaughnessy in the 200-back, followed later by senior captain Sarah Stockwell’s third place finish in the 200-breast.The diving team, who racked up 64 points on the platform, stamped the biggest exclamation point of the night. Minnesota did not bring any divers to Ann Arbor.“For Minnesota not to bring any divers, it was just a major plus for us,” senior diver Christiana Loukas said. “We used it to our advantage.”The Hoosiers’ focus now turns to March’s NCAA Championships, but for now, they are happy with this week’s showing. “We were so happy for each other all week,” Stockwell said. “Everybody swam so fast. We couldn’t believe how fast we were swimming at times. It was great.”– By Kevin Loughery
(02/21/09 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ballooning its lead over Minnesota in the third night of the Big Ten Championships to 66 points and upping its total to 529, the IU women’s swimming and diving team is one night away from potentially winning its first conference championship since 2007. The Hoosiers started the night Friday by taking first in the 400-medley relay, led by junior Kate Zubkova, who also won the conference title in the 100-back. IU was in the mix in each event, consistently placing in the top four.Minnesota, who was able to briefly take a one point lead after the 200-free, fell back into second following Sarah Stockwell and Abby Coopers’ third and fourth finishes in the 100 breast. The diving team later added 58 points to give IU some cushion heading into Saturday’s final events. “We were pretty much even with Minnesota in swimming today,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “They don’t have any divers and we do. Our diving team is our hammer. When we’ve been at our best, that’s what we’ve done.”This year’s Big Ten Championships conclude Saturday with preliminaries and finals in the 200-back, 100-free, 200-breast, 200-fly, platform diving, 1650-free and 400-free relay. – By Kevin Loughery
(02/20/09 2:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Halfway through the Big Ten Championships, the Hoosiers’ conference title hopes are very much alive.After Thursday’s five events, the IU women’s swimming and diving team muscled ahead of the competition, earnign 158 points. The effort gave them a 30-point cushion over Minnesota and the rest of the field.Freshman Nikki White led the way with a conference meet record-setting effort in the 500-free preliminary Thursday afternoon, only to smash it by more than one second in Thursday night’s final. Her time of 4:37.38 earned White her first ever Big Ten title. “The nice thing about Nikki is she’s always gunning for more," IU coach Ray Looze said. "She wants to have gone faster. She’s satisfied, but still wants to do even better.”Five more events follow on Friday where the Hoosiers will look to hang onto their lead.Friday will be run much like Thursday with 11 a.m. preliminaries preceding 6:30 p.m. finals. The events will be the 400-meter medley relay, 40-meter individual medley, 100-meter butterfly, 200- free, 100- breast, 100- back and three-meter diving. – By Kevin Loughery
(02/19/09 5:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two events, two second-place finishes.In a conference championship IU coach Ray Looze predicted would be a “dogfight,” the women’s swimming and diving team closed out a brief first evening of action on Wednesday with 68 points, four behind Big Ten frontrunner and defending champion Minnesota.IU took second behind Wisconsin in the 200-meter medley relay, which started the night off in record-setting fashion. The squad, consisting of Kate Zubkova, Sarah Stockwell, Donna Smailis and Margaux Farrell, posted a time of 1:36.80 seconds, more than two seconds better than IU's former record.The Hoosiers 200- free record fell when freshman Nikki White touched the wall after her leg of the 800- freestyle relay, propelling her team to a second place finish in the event. Minnesota took first. Thursday’s events at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium began at 11 a.m. with preliminary trials in the 500-meter free, 200-meter individual medley, 50-yard free and one meter diving. Finals in each event begin at 6:30 p.m. Check back with IDSnews.com for more updates.– By Kevin Loughery
(02/19/09 5:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a four-week hiatus, the women’s swimming and diving team is back in the pool, this time at Michigan for the Big Ten Championships, attempting to win the school’s fourth conference title.The team closed out Wednesday evening with 68 points, only four behind Big Ten frontrunner, defending champion Minnesota.The three-day, 11-team championship will continue through Saturday night. The Hoosiers are ranked No. 13 nationally, second best in the conference behind No. 10 Minnesota.“If we swim like we know we are capable of swimming, which is fast and get our hands on the wall, we are very capable of winning this conference,” senior captain Sarah Stockwell said. As far as the end result goes, IU coach Ray Looze was unwilling to make a prediction for the week.“We are going to finish where we deserve,” he said. “That story is going to play out this week. The team with the most passion and desire will come out on top. Our girls are really going to lay their hearts on the line, and I can’t wait to watch.”
(02/09/09 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Going into his final turn in the fourth leg of Saturday’s 400-meter freestyle relay, freshman Jim Barbiere’s lead disappeared. Purdue’s Dan Jung caught him as the two raced. “Jimmy remembered to not lose his head and didn’t go too fast too early,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “He kept it long. After his turn, he just pulled away.” Barbiere was the first to touch the wall, giving IU a 156-144 victory against the Boilermakers and silencing the packed house at Purdue’s Boilermaker Aquatics Center. All that could be heard were the jubilant cheers of the IU men’s swimming and diving team, Looze said. Heading into the final two events of its meet against the conference rival, IU needed at least 23 points to win. They not only had to go one-two in the 200 IM but also place first and second or first and third in the 400-meter freestyle relay. “Our guys were in a big hole and had to dig out,” Looze said. And dig they did. No. 7 IU went to West Lafayette to face the No. 16 Boilermakers, a team Looze said came out firing. “It was one of those meets where we go in, and they’re going to throw everything they have at us,” Looze said. “We didn’t exactly have our game, but we won ugly. It took everything we had.” And that included standout performances from the Hoosier’s youth. A second-place finish on the 3-meter springboard and third place on the platform from sophomore diver Landon Marzullo helped earn nine valuable points for IU against one of the nation’s top divers and 2008 Olympian David Boudia of Purdue.“Purdue outscored us in diving, but without those nine points, we don’t win the meet,” Looze said. Senior breaststroker and captain Heath Tameris said contributions from all 24 swimmers ensured victory in the team’s final dual meet of the season.“We won as a team,” Tameris said. “This meet gave us confidence, excitement and experience.” Senior captain Matt Lenton had another big afternoon, winning the 50-meter freestyle by one-hundredth of a second as well as performing as the second leg for the winning 400-free relay team. “Across the board, everyone’s confidence is up,” Lenton said. “A lot of guys, especially the freshmen, stepped up. It’s hard not to get caught up in that.” Big performances by young swimmers included first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events by freshman Eric Ress as well as sophomore Titus Knight’s 200-meter freestyle win and sophomore Tyler Lemert’s 100-meter breaststroke victory. “A responsibility as a captain is to not only lead by example but to also pump confidence into these young guys,” Tameris said. “I tell them to expect to score and expect to win.” In two weeks, the Hoosiers travel north to West Lafayette once more – only this time, it will be to try to earn their 25th Big Ten Championship. For now Looze said he is just pleased his team is able to scrap out wins against adversity.“I’ve really got to hand it to our guys,” Looze said. “Our depth really made the difference. Last year we had a deep team, but this team is certainly deeper.”
(01/20/09 4:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a meet against Ohio State that IU coach Ray Looze described earlier in the week as one the Hoosiers needed to create upsets in order to win, the men’s swimming and diving team did just that – downing the No. 10 conference rival as well as Missouri on Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.While it seems senior Matt Lenton can’t decide what he wants his school record in 50-meter freestyle to be, he is doing exactly what Looze expects of him: getting faster. For the second consecutive week, Lenton broke the IU record, setting it at 19.82 seconds. “I have great teammates who push me each week,” the Australian-born sprinter said. “It has been a mix of training and becoming aware of my own potential. I’m not afraid to race anyone anymore, which is a big bonus.” Lenton’s goal by the NCAA Championships in March is 19.4 seconds in the event, 2.1 seconds faster than when he started the season.With the Hoosiers’ 239-61 thumping of Mizzou and 163-137 thriller over the Buckeyes, IU climbed six spots in the rankings to No. 8, while OSU remained No. 10 and Missouri dropped to No. 25.IU travels south to Evansville on Saturday to take on the Purple Aces.
(01/20/09 4:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When unranked Ohio State and No. 23 Missouri came to Bloomington on Saturday, the women’s swimming and diving team came through with two victories, avoiding a potential speed bump in its season and keeping Big Ten title hopes in sight.“They were two good programs who were well-coached,” IU coach Ray Looze said after the meet. “They swam tough. Our girls are pretty tired. We had to trudge through.”On paper, the Hoosiers didn’t look tired.They smashed Ohio State 215-84 and shook off Mizzou, edging off the Tigers 161-139 on the backs of senior diver Christina Loukas, junior Kate Zubkova and senior captain Sarah Stockwell. Loukas took first on the 3-meter springboard, and Zubkova and Stockwell tacked on wins in the 100 back and 100 breast, respectively. “Personally, I just need to take care of the little things, like my turns, starts and pullouts,” Stockwell said, explaining her personal goals to ensure continued success for the remainder of the season. “I need to go out there and swim my own race and not worry about anyone else.” The Hoosiers, despite their wins, dropped two spots in the NCAA rankings, falling from No. 11 to No. 13. IU takes on Purdue on Saturday in its final home meet of the season. “We need to show we can win the Big Ten and just remember we are a force to be reckoned with,” Stockwell said. “We aren’t a little team anymore.”
(01/16/09 5:03am)
The basketball teams are not the only Hoosier sports in action. So are the men's and women's swimming and diving, and track and field teams.
(12/08/08 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While several IU swimmers competed at the Short Course Nationals in Atlanta over the weekend, the IU divers were in Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State Diving Invitational. In Atlanta, the 500 freestyle saw sophomore Titus Knight finish sixth in the consolation final and freshman Eric Ress finish first in the bonus final. Knight also placed sixth in the 200 freestyle, and Ress placed third in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke. Ress added a seventh-place finish in the 200 backstroke. At the Ohio State Invitational, sophomore Landon Marzullo finished second in the three-meter competition while freshman Linus Altman-Kurosaki finished 11th. In the one-meter competition, Marzullo was the top IU finisher, placing 12th.
(11/21/08 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the IU men’s swimming and diving team hosts the Hoosierland Invite this weekend, IU coach Ray Looze hopes history doesn’t repeat itself.“We don’t typically swim well at this (event) for whatever reason,” Looze said. “I don’t know if it’s because of the timing, or some teams come in rested and we’re not. I always hold out hope, though, that we’ll be successful at a point of the season when traditionally we haven’t been. But it’s really up to the kids and how seriously they take the meet.” The swim team welcomes Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Truman State, while the diving team hosts Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Wright State and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.The meet will begin Friday and run through Sunday, with a morning session and an afternoon session each day. “It’s similar to NCAAs or the Big Ten Championships in that it’s a three-day, six-session meet,” Looze said. “It’s very important because we don’t go to many of these, to be able to handle the increased event load and the three days of swimming.”The Hoosiers haven’t raced in a meet since Nov. 1, when they lost to Texas and Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. The layoff has not affected their training schedule, though. “Basically, when we have time off from meets, it means time to train hard,” junior Aaron Opell said. “And that’s basically what we’ve been doing. This is one of the toughest times of the season in regards to training.”This meet offers a break from the dual-meet season, and the Hoosiers will use this meet as preparation for the Big Tens.“Everyone just goes in with the basic mindset that everyone wants to swim fast,” freshman Jim Barbiere said. “Everyone wants to keep getting better every race. This is the halfway point of the season, so it lets you know where you are before going into Big Tens.”After the loss to Texas and Michigan, Looze hopes his team will rebound this weekend.“I really want to see consistency, great preliminary swimming, taking races and approaching them aggressively, getting used to winning,” Looze said. “We have a young team, and the last meet we swam we got knocked around pretty good by number one and number three, so we want to get back to our winning ways.”
(11/21/08 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A horde of collegiate swimming and diving teams will descend on IU’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center this weekend, as the IU women’s swimming and diving team hosts the Hoosierland Invite, which takes place Friday through Sunday. Competing against IU in the swimming portion of the meet are Cincinnati, Louisville, Truman State and Pittsburgh. The diving portion will feature Cincinnati, Wright State, Pittsburgh, Louisville and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.The No. 10 women’s team comes into the meet having faced some tough competition early in the season. The Hoosiers lost to then-No. 7 Texas on Nov. 1, but have also defeated Big Ten rivals then-No. 14 Michigan and then-No. 22 Northwestern. None of the teams coming this weekend are ranked, but that doesn’t mean IU coach Ray Looze is looking past them.“The teams that are coming in many cases are going to be peaked for this, whereas we’re going to be coming in with a heavy load of training,” Looze said. “It could be a really good challenge for us, even though the rankings might not show that.”As has been the case all season, the Hoosiers are not cutting back in practice to rest up for this weekend’s meet, instead keeping their focus on the two big meets at the end of the season: the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships. The two-and-a-half week span since the team’s last meet has allowed for a lot of intense training, said sophomore Ashley Kranz.“We’ve all been working really hard for the past couple weeks,” Kranz said. “Some (distance swimmers) have been coming down in yardage so we can get good times in longer events like the 1,000 (-yard freestyle), but for the most part we’ve been training hard.”The Hoosierland Invite is scheduled similarly to the Big Ten and NCAA Championship meets, with a round of preliminary swims starting each day at 9 a.m., followed by a 6 p.m. session that features a final. The swimmers with the top eight times from the morning session will make up the finals heat, while a consolation heat will consist of swimmers whose times were ninth through 16th in the morning session. Relays are only swam in the evening session. Looze likes participating in the Invite because he feels it is good preparation for those end-of-season meets.“Basically, you score all your points in preliminaries,” Looze said. “So if you belong in the finals, then you’d better swim like it, or you might wind up in consols or not even in scoring position. We want to make sure the swimmers understand how to swim well in prelims, then come back at night, swim multiple events and do well.”The only difference between the Hoosierland Invite and a meet like the Big Ten Championships is the event load, Looze said. Each swimmer will be expected to compete in two events each day, plus a relay. Because every individual event is swum in two separate sessions, IU swimmers can compete in as many as four per day in addition to a relay, making this meet the most demanding one of the season.“We’re kind of taking a warrior mentality,” Looze said. “I know it’s going to be a heavy load.”
(11/03/08 3:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 8 IU women’s swimming and diving team took second in a two-day, double-dual meet with national powerhouses No. 7 Texas and No. 14 Michigan that ended Saturday afternoon. The Hoosiers defeated Michigan 232-157 but lost to Texas 211-178.Junior Kate Zubkova led the Hoosiers (3-1) in scoring for the third straight meet, placing first in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events.Senior Christina Loukas swept the springboard diving events, taking first in both the one-meter and three-meter events. Junior Brittany Feldman placed third in each event.Senior Sarah Stockwell won the 100-yard breastroke, beating out Texas’s Carlye Ellis by three-tenths of a second. Sophomore Amanda Smith won the 1650-yard freestyle and placed third in the 500-yard freestyle, while freshman Nikki White placed third in the 1650- and second in the 500-freestyle.The Hoosiers return to action on Nov. 21-23 when they host the Hoosierland Invitational.
(11/03/08 3:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The undefeated No. 14 IU men’s swimming and diving team received a wake-up call this weekend at the hands of No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Michigan. IU lost to both teams in the double-dual meet, falling to Texas 209-153 and to Michigan 227-151. “This was a reality check for us,” said IU swimming coach Ray Looze. “It showed us where we are and where we need to be. It’s pretty apparent that we have much more work to do.” The Hoosiers were clearly outmatched the entire meet, failing to win a single event. “We just didn’t have the talent to compete with these teams,” Looze said. Junior Aaron Opell and sophomore Cody Weik turned in the best performances of the meet for the Hoosiers, earning second place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard butterfly, respectively. Weik also finished third in the 400-yard individual medley. Senior Matt Lenton and junior Bryan Chovanec tied for third in the 50-yard freestyle. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Chovanec, Lenton, sophomore Ante Zoricic and sophomore Titus Knight finished in third place while the team of Lenton, Zoricic, Knight and Weik also placed third in the 400-yard freestyle relay.Despite several good showings in different events, Looze said he wasn’t happy with his team’s mindset coming into the meet.“We have to be willing to race anybody,” he said. “We can’t come in and have the results assumed before the race. We’re still trying to find the right balance.”Sophomore diver Landon Marzullo turned in another impressive performance, finishing in second on the platform and the three-meter board while placing third on the one-meter board.The Hoosiers will have another chance to beat Michigan when they host the Wolverines on Jan. 10, 2009. “We have another shot at Michigan,” Looze said. “We have to find a way to win individually and collectively.”
(10/31/08 2:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The undefeated No. 14 IU men’s swimming and diving team will face its toughest test of the year during the weekend when it takes on No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. “The practice (this week) has been real good,” said IU distance coach Mike Westphal. “The guys seem to be pretty focused on the huge challenge that they have in front of them, with Texas being the top team in the country and Michigan in the top five.”The Hoosiers have fared well to begin the season, notching comfortable wins against Kentucky and Northwestern in their first two meets of the season.“We’re real excited because we had two real good meets to start out the season,” saidsophomore Matt O’Brien. “Kentucky was a tough meet for us, and we just put it all together. Hopefully we can do that again this weekend.”This weekend’s meet provides a new challenge for IU, and O’Brien said the Hoosiers have stressed the fundamentals in practice this week.“We’re really working on our relay starts,” O’Brien said. “We’re just going back to basics, really, working on turns, starts and technique, making sure we get our stuff down.” Facing good competition early in the year is nothing new for the Hoosiers, and the team appears up to the challenge.“We’re always excited for a challenge,” said sophomore Doug Spraul. “Our coaches always plan on us swimming against some big competitors this time of year. It just gives us a chance to see the competition across the nation.”IU comes in riding momentum gained not only from winning two meets in a row to begin the season, but also from sweeping the Big Ten weekly awards, with junior Aaron Opell winning Swimmer of the Week and sophomore Landon Marzullo earning Diver of the Week. The honor was Marzullo’s second of the season.Despite the tough teams that stand in their way, Westphal said the Hoosiers are ready to compete. “We look forward to something like this,” Westphal said. “If we didn’t, then we just wouldn’t be a competitive team. We wouldn’t be one of the top teams in the country.”