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(02/03/14 2:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A crucial relay win and an unstoppable Eric Ress helped the IU swimming and diving team to a sweep of Louisville in a dual meet Friday at Cousilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Swimming a total of 2,100 yards, senior Eric Ress won three of his four events as the No. 8 IU men’s team came away with a 162-138 win over the No. 7 Cardinals.Seniors James Wells and Cody Miller, along with freshmen Max Irwin and Anze Tavcar took the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet. Ress then touched first in the 1,000-yard freestyle race to give the men’s team the first two events of the meet.IU Coach Ray Looze said the team’s strong start was a shock to their opponent and allowed them to have success throughout the night.“We didn’t expect to win any relays, so to win that first relay was sort of a punch in the face to our opponent and it dazed them for awhile,” he said.Freshman Jackson Miller was second in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Miller was second and he then took third in the 100-yard butterfly. Wells posted a decisive win in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 47.76 seconds.It was Ress, though, who kept his team in front. In addition to his 1,000 freestyle win, he then took the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, and was a member of the second-place 400-yard freestyle relay team.“I’m super proud of Eric Ress,” Looze said. “I don’t think anyone swam any further by any margin than him. Sweeping the 200 back and sweeping the 500 free right there — that was where the meet swayed in our favor.”In the diving well, the men’s team went 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 in the one-meter event, led by senior Emad Abdelatif, who scored 364.28 points. Seniors Joshua Arndt and Darian Schmidt were second and third, respectively.They also took the top six spots in the 3-meter competition, Schmidt finishing first with 425.18 points.IU Diving Coach Drew Johansen said he was looking for flaws in the Hoosiers’ dives going into the meet, but he said he didn’t see many in their dominant performance.“We had a few misses there just dealing with the pressures of competition and the anticipation of doing a good dive, but I thought technically they were all in good form today,” he said.On the women’s side, senior diver Kate Hillman was the lone Hoosier competitor, diving for the last time at home. She outscored all four Louisville divers to take both the one-meter and 3-meter crown.For the swimmers, the meet got off to an unusual start. The A relay team was disqualified in the opening 200-yard medley because of an early exchange, something that hasn’t occurred once this year for the women.From that point on, though, it was a story of 1-2-3 finishes, as the No. 11 women cruised to a 175-123 win.Senior Lindsay Vrooman placed first in the 1,000-yard freestyle, followed by freshman Stephanie Marchuk in second and sophomore Haley Lips in third. In the next event, Vrooman and Lips finished 1-2 and junior Cynthia Pammett took third for a sweep of the 200-yard freestyle.Finally, in a third consecutive event, sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass was the first of three Hoosiers in the 100-yard backstroke. Juniors Allie Day and Justine Ress went 2-3, respectively.Looze said he was proud of the way his team protected its home pool.“We talked about putting any limits on ourselves,” he said. “We’re going to try to max out to the very highest degree possible.”Other first place finishes included freshman Gia Dalesandro in the 100-yard butterfly, junior Dorina Szekeres in the 400-yard individual medley. and seniors Bronwyn Paslowski in the 100-yard breaststroke and Kait Flederbach in the 50-yard freestyle.Senior Brenna MacLean said the competitive meet atmosphere foreshadowed championship season. “At the beginning we had a little bit of adversity and I think that we quickly came together and really put the pressure on,” she said. “We wanted to really mimic what a big meet would look like. At the end of the day, I know the seniors wanted to finish it up tough and have an amazing meet, and the team was behind us the entire way.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(01/31/14 5:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will compete against Louisville tonight at Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.Louisville’s men’s team stand as the No. 7 team in the country. The Hoosier men are No. 8.“It’s going to be a very, very close meet,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “If we can win a relay, that will be a huge boost to us because their relays are significantly ahead of ours time wise.”The team has had two weeks to prepare for its toughest competition since the beginning of the season. It most recently defeated Iowa and Missouri.Looze said his team has been working to peak in speed and power at the right time.“We don’t really change our cycle for anything,” he said. “We don’t change it for a dual meet, for Big Tens or for NCAAs. The body likes routine, and that’s what we do.”Last year, the Cardinals were no match for the men’s team, winning 193-107. “Fast really describes everyone on their team,” sophomore Kyle Johnson said. “They may be deeper than we are, but we have talent. We have people that’ll really step up, and I think that’ll be the determining factor.”Looze said he will also be looking for some of his younger swimmers to step up this week. On the women’s side, he said he wants to see swimmers who haven’t scored points this year do so. Ultimately, he said, he wants his team to show their true depth.Louisville’s women’s team is currently ranked No. 13. The Hoosiers are No. 11. Looze said he expects the women’s team will face some future NCAA finalists in Louisville.“They’ve got one of the best flyers and sprint freestylers in the country,” he said. “They’re capable of winning all their events, and then when you put them together, they field a pretty good relay as well. So our women are going to be challenged by those outstanding swimmers.”The Hoosiers were also victorious in 2013, defeating Louisville 160-140. This is their third consecutive weekend with a meet and it marks the end of their dual meet season. Next up are the Big Ten Championships.At this point, competition serves as preparation for the post season.“With the kind of fitness we have, really meets are irrelevant to tire us out,” Looze said. “It’s just building momentum, getting sharp, building confidence. Louisville’s a really good team, so that’s going to be a nice last challenge for us leading into Big Tens and then NCAAs.”For the diving team, the focus of practice the past couple weeks has been quality over quantity as they have cut down on repetitions to get back in competitive form.Most importantly, this weekend will serve as an indicator of what the divers need to improve upon before Big Tens.IU Coach Drew Johansen said he’s looking to find any flaws in a specific category or technique of the dive.“Placement isn’t as important to me as discovering if there’s a weak link in the chain of dives that they’re going to be doing,” he said. “Obviously, we want to place well, and winning is also something you have to learn how to do, but I’m looking to find if there’s any little bits we can tune up.”Looze said he will need to see an overall team effort if they want the same result as last year.“We have to win races,” he said. “We have to get contributions from everybody. If we can beat this team, that’ll be a great win and a confidence booster going into Big Tens.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7
(01/30/14 3:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With six national championships, 29 Big Ten team titles, 101 Olympians and 674 All-Americas, the IU swimming and diving teams continue a tradition of winning. This year, the IU women’s swimming team is no exception. However, it’s success outside the pool has the most lasting effects.When the current seniors were freshmen, they were a part of a team that finished second at the Big Ten Championships and 13th in the country. They knew changes needed to be made.“Three years ago, the chemistry wasn’t where it needed to be,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “We didn’t really have everybody pulling in the same direction. As freshmen, I think they saw one thing and wanted to do something different.”Stephanie Armstrong, Brenna MacLean, Bronwyn Paslowski and Lindsay Vrooman, later joined by Kait Flederbach, formed the class of 2014.They all agreed IU immediately felt like home.“There aren’t many places that the first time you go somewhere you can already call it home,” Armstrong said. “It just felt like the right atmosphere for me, completely.”The senior class has gradually fixed what didn’t seem quite right throughout the past few years. They’ve turned an individual sport into a team sport, which Paslowski said has been crucial to the team’s success.“It takes more than yourself to achieve something,” she said. “Over the past couple years, everyone here has become really close — both the women’s team and the men’s team. I think that’s had a lot to do with a lot of our success.”Looze said among the many qualities of great leaders his seniors posses is an unmatched work ethic.Flederbach said this year is different from the others because it has been about enjoying daily practice while always working hard.As mentors, the senior class made sure that this mentality was passed down to the younger swimmers as well.“For a lot of us freshmen, coming in we were shaken up a little bit,” freshman Claudia Di Capua said. “Especially during those hard practices, they were the ones to speak up and get us going again. They keep us motivated.”Their hard work has been met with success. Senior Lindsay Vrooman was last year’s Big Ten Swimmer of the Year.Vrooman also holds the IU pool record in the 1,650-yard freestyle event. She, along with MacLean and Paslowski, all qualified for individual events at the NCAA Championships as juniors.Maclean, Paslowski and Vrooman, as well as junior Dorina Szekeres, are captains this season. Looze said it’s important to have leaders who accept accountability and always do the right thing.“So much happens outside of your control as a coach,” Looze said. “We’re held responsible for everything now more so than ever before. You’ve got to have great leadership so that the team does good things when no one is watching.”With all the senior class has given to the swimming program, they may have just as much to take away from their experience.“I’ve really learned how to not just swim for yourself, but for people you care about — and take what you learned in the pool and apply it to your life,” Flederbach said.The seniors have brought together a team from four countries, nine states and four provinces. Looze said he hopes future teams can follow their lead. “Chemistry. It’s an intangible thing, but I think it’s what separates champions from teams who just fall short,” he said. “It’s the rarest thing in sports.”
(01/27/14 4:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s swimming and diving team defeated in-state Big Ten rival Purdue 154.5-135.5 during an emotional day in Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Before the meet Saturday, seven seniors — five swimmers and two divers — were honored as part of senior day activities. They proceeded to beat their third Big Ten opponent of the season, completing a 4-for-4 start to the 2014 season.The Hoosiers won the first six events of the day, leaving IU Coach Ray Looze surprised at his team’s dominant performance.“I think we won 12 of the 16 events, and I didn’t really expect that,” he said. “It’s not like we really lit it up time-wise or anything like that, but I was pleased.”In the opening 200-yard medley relay event, sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass, freshman Gia Dalesandro and seniors Bronwyn Paslowski and Kait Flederbach took first with a time of 1 minute 40.76 seconds.Sophomore Haley Lips followed with a win in the 1650-yard freestyle. Junior Dorina Szekeres placed second in her first-ever competitive swim in the event.Senior Stephanie Armstrong said the team’s strong start was crucial to its performance all day.“We did the same kind of routine where we wake up and do our wake up swim, then we come here and need to get going right off the bat,” she said. “I think we did a really good job of that right from that mile and that first relay — winning both of those just set the fire to get us going for the rest of the meet.”The team continued its streak as senior Lindsay Vrooman took first in the 200-yard freestyle. IU finished 1-2-3 in the 100-yard backstroke with Snodgrass in first place, junior Allie Day in second and junior Justine Ress in third.Paslowski won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1 minute 2.12 seconds, the first of her two individual wins. Dalesandro and freshman Olivia Barker went 1-2 in the 200-yard butterfly, respectively.Senior Kait Flederbach placed second in the 50-yard freestyle event and helped the Hoosiers win in the 400-yard freestyle relay to cap off the meet. She said the team’s energy and support for one another was the biggest part of their win.“When you looked at our side of the pool, we always had swimmers cheering, and it was never dull. It was never quiet,” Flederbach said. “That really helped us all stay up and get excited for each race.”In the diving well, senior Kate Hillman was second on the 10-meter platform and third on the one-meter springboard.As a group, the seniors had a total of 13 top-three finishes on senior day. Looze said the seniors have changed the culture of the IU swimming and diving program during their four years as Hoosiers.“They embody how to be a team, how to work together, how to support each other, how to bring a bunch of different individuals and personalities together to really function as one,” he said. “They’ve done so much for us, and I think it’s really set us up for years to come, too.”Looze complimented the Purdue swimming and diving program for their results.He said the Hoosiers are taking it one meet at a time moving forward. “They are a very well-coached group, and we’re fortunate to come out with a win,” Looze said. “Beyond that, we’re just focused on being good at the end of the season, being a championship-level team.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(01/24/14 5:43pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s swimming and diving team will compete at home against in-state and Big Ten rival Purdue this weekend on senior day.The No. 11 Hoosiers are coming off a sweep of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. They continued to focus on speed and power this week to build off that success, according to IU Coach Ray Looze.“This week we have a need, a need for speed,” Looze said. “We’ve begun to add a little more speed-assisted stuff, and the team’s really responding. Today we did a pulley set, and we were really moving some great weight and still swimming fast.”This meet is the second of three consecutive meets for the women’s team. Looze said it will serve as a measurement of how well their rigorous training translates to speed in competition.Junior swimmer Allie Day said her team is focused on the mental aspect of the sport as much as the physicality.“We are really focusing on our mentality for how we are going to compete at the end of the season and practicing in race atmosphere,” she said. “These next couples of weeks are our last weeks where we will tear our bodies down before we begin tapering. These weeks are crucial.”While the team is focused on peaking during championship season, that doesn’t take away from the desire to beat its biggest rival.The No. 18 Boilermakers are a perfect 7-0 in dual meet competition this season. They have most recently defeated Michigan State and Michigan, a team the Hoosiers beat earlier in the season.Looze said it will be important to have a strong start to the meet.“We’re just going to have to take it one event at a time,” he said. “There are 16 events, and that 200 medley relay is going to be critical to win.”Senior diver Cassidy Kahn suffered a knee injury during winter break and said she still isn’t certain whether or not she will compete this weekend. Senior Kate Hillman will compete.Kahn said this meet is just as important as any other for preparing for their toughest competition at the end of the season.“It definitely has weight, being one of our biggest rivals, as well as being another dual meet as we come up to Big Tens,” she said. “Just as with any meet, we want to go in prepared and give our best performance that we can give.”The Hoosiers have won the last two meetings, 179-121 last year in West Lafayette and 169-130 in 2012. They hold a 19-10 all-time record against Purdue, including winning 11 of the last 12 meetings.Looze said although it’s always important for them to compete well against a rival, they aren’t doing anything different in terms of their training schedule.“We’re a championship-oriented program, so we don’t put any added emphasis from the standpoint of resting more for it, tapering down, anything like that,” he said. “But, we’re competitors and we love to race, so we want to do our best. We want to represent IU to 100 percent of our ability.”Looze said he wants to start putting more emphasis on having fun while competing. His team knows that touching the wall first is always the most fun, especially when it’s a team effort.“We start hard from the first relay, through all the events, to the last relay,” Day said. “This team is full of fighters, and we compete at our highest potential to not let our teammates down.”
(01/22/14 5:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshmen swimmers Gia Dalesandro and Anze Tavcar earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors this week, and senior Darian Schmidt was named the Big Ten Diver of the Week.In last weekend’s sweep of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, Dalesandro won both the 200-medley relay and the 200-individual medley. Her win in the 200 IM came in at 2:03.80. Dalesandro teamed with sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass, senior Bronwyn Paslowski and senior Kait Flederbach to win the 200-medley relay in 1:41.22. Dalesandro also placed second in the 100-meter butterfly. This is her third Freshman of the Week honor.Tavcar had three wins last weekend, earning him his first Freshman of the Week award. He swam leadoff for the 400-meter freestyle relay team, which took first with a time of 2:59.34. Tavcar also won the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events. He had a personal best time of 20.18 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle and was just .12 seconds away from breaking his own team-leading time of 44.09 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle. Both times are NCAA B-cuts.Schmidt was named Big Ten Diver of the Week for the sixth time in his career and the second time this season. He was first in the 3-meter competition with a score of 455.75 and just missed beating his school record of 460.20. His score was nearly 100 points better than the second-place finisher. He also took third in the 1-meter competition with 335 points.Though the men’s team gets a week off, the women are back in action this weekend as they take on in-state Big Ten rival Purdue at Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.-Grace Palmieri
(01/21/14 2:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU swimming and diving team swept Iowa, Illinois and Missouri in Iowa City, Iowa, on Saturday.A total of 10 victories on the day helped the women’s team to 170-121, 170-126, and 193-103 victories over No. 21 Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, respectively. For IU Coach Ray Looze, the performance was an indication of how good his team can be.“In the two meets beforehand we talked about how we really felt we could be one of the best teams in the country, and I think today was a true representation of that,” he said.To open the meet, sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass, senior Bronwyn Paslowski, freshman Gia Dalesandro and senior Kait Flederbach won the 200 medley relay.Paslowski also won the 200-meter breaststroke and finished second in the 100-meter breaststroke. Juniors Justine Ress and Allie Day clocked in only 0.16 seconds apart to place second and third in the 100-yard backstroke.Although the Hoosiers were able to show their depth, it was no question who had the best day in the pool. Senior Lindsay Vrooman swept the distance events and was a perfect three for three in her individual events. She took first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle.“After watching the meet today it was easy to see how in shape we are,” Vrooman said. “Everyone was winning close races and catching others at the end of their race.”Looze said he is confident in what his senior leader can accomplish at the end of the season.“I think she’s going to be a real force at NCAAs,” he said. “She has a burning desire to put IU’s name out there, and I think she’s got a chance to win an NCAA title. I really do.”Other wins for the women included freshman Olivia Barker in the 200-yard butterfly, Snodgrass in the 100-yard freestyle, junior Cynthia Pammett in the 200-yard backstroke and Flederbach in the 50-yard freestyle.The men’s team defeated No. 21 Iowa 195-102 and No. 7 Missouri 174-123. After losing to their first four opponents of the season, the men have now equaled that number in wins.Junior Steve Schmuhl and freshman Max Irwin went 1-2 in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshmen Jackson Miller and Anze Tavcar finished first in the 200-yard freestyle and 50-yard freestyle, respectively, with Tavcar earning an NCAA B-cut and personal best time of 20.81 seconds.Miller also won the 500-yard freestyle, and sophomore Grayson Smith won the 1,000-yard freestyle.Looze said he was especially happy with the way his underclassmen competed.“On the men’s side I really loved the energy the team had right out of the gate,” he said. “One of the highlights was the freshmen stepping up, from Anze Tavcar to Jackson Miller. I was pretty excited about the positive energy.”Senior Eric Ress had several top three finishes on the day. He said the team has made great strides in the month they had without competition.“I feel our performance at U.S. Winter Nationals wasn’t the best representation of where we are as a team,” Ress said. “We really capitalized on our shortcomings at Nationals and made huge gains this past month. Today’s win showed how we’ve made progress as a team.”Both the men and women took first in the 400-yard freestyle relay.In the diving well, senior Darian Schmidt, who competed at the USA Diving National Championships last month, won the one-meter competition. His score of 455.75 was just five points off his own school record.The men’s team went 2-3 in the one-meter competition with Emad Abdelatif finishing second and Schmidt third.Kate Hillman was the lone Hoosier competing for the women’s team. She placed third on the one-meter and fourth on the one-meter.After enjoying this win, the team will go back to work to prepare for back-to-back meets in the coming weeks.“I think we’re set up for Big Tens perfectly,” Vrooman said. “We’re seeing constant improvement as meets go along. It was a little hard to get back into racing again today because it’s been awhile, but we’ll see even more improvement the next two meets coming up.”
(01/17/14 4:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After more than a month without competition, the IU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will start the second half of their season this weekend as they travel to Iowa City.The swimming teams haven’t competed since Dec. 8 at the United States Swimming Winter Nationals. After a short break, the Hoosiers were back in practice to begin the year. With the bad weather at the beginning of last week, they were forced to condense six days of training down to five.IU Coach Ray Looze said he saw fatigue during that stretch, but his swimmers were able to accomplish what they needed to as they added power and speed to the training equation.“We dropped our volume and added more quality, which was all part of the plan,” he said. “We’re ready to get back and start competing again.”Junior swimmer Justine Ress said winter break was a good time for the team to start focusing more on the details.“It’s just very race-oriented,” she said. “We really focus on the little things right now, especially in January preparing for Big Tens and all these dual meets.”The women will compete against Big Ten foes Iowa and Illinois, as well as Missouri. Freshman breaststroker Heather Hayes has returned to practice after suffering from mononucleosis, and injured sophomore Siri Kristiansen is also back. The two won’t compete this weekend, but Looze said it’s “nice to be whole again.”The men’s team will face Iowa and No. 7 Missouri.Not only does this meet kick off the second half of the season, but it opens Big Ten play. Looze said though Iowa always presents stiff competition, it’s nothing new for his team.“We’ve been through the wringer, both the women and the men, so I don’t think it’ll be anything they haven’t seen,” Looze said. “We may be a little rusty having not competed since early December, but hopefully that’ll get shaken off really quick.”Outside of conference competition, the women will face a Southeastern Conference opponent in Missouri. Ress said it’s exciting for them to see a non-conference team, but Iowa and Illinois will prepare them more for the future.“We have three back-to-back-to-back dual meets in the month of January after having such a long stretch of not competing,” she said. “I think they (Iowa and Illinois) will be a good competitor to gauge how the Big Ten is doing just in general.”The diving team is back in competition mode this weekend as well.Seniors Darian Schmidt, Kate Hillman and redshirt freshman Jessica Parratto competed at the U.S. Diving National Championships at the end of December. IU Coach Drew Johansen said they started slow but got better toward the end of the week.Parratto took gold in the synchronized event, putting up the highest score (370) in the final round. Schmidt was second in the men’s three-meter synchronized. Their success earned them spots on the U.S. National Team.Johansen said training has been great during break, especially because renovations to the diving well are now complete.“We’ve added a water belt system to the one- and three-meter that is a game changer for these guys,” he said. “We’re really excited to have the new tools in our hands, and the team is doing really well.”Both the swimming and diving teams have had weeks of practice to prepare for the second half of their season. But it’s not just progress in the pool that has been encouraging.The team had a first semester cumulative GPA of 3.1, with more than eight men and eight women earning a 3.5 or better. Looze said he hopes this success translates from the classroom to the pool.“Whenever you have really good academics, it typically coincides with a really good season because you’ve got people that are super committed to a lot of parts of their life,” he said.As a first-year coach, Johansen said the break was a chance to get to know his team better.“We’ve gone through a full training cycle, competitions, a little bit of a break and now we’ve come back and we’re all speaking the same language right away,” Johansen said. “A lot of trust has been gained on both sides of the fence, and that just accelerates the learning process.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @GPalmieri7.
(12/11/13 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Both Big Ten weekly swimming honors went to members of the IU women’s swim team this week. The Big Ten announced Tuesday senior distance swimmer Lindsay Vrooman is the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week and freshman Gia Dalesandro is the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.Last weekend at the AT&T USA Winter National Championships, Vrooman earned silver in the 1,650-meter freestyle event. Her time of 15:54.68 was an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and the third best time in IU history. In the 200-meter and 800-meter freestyle Vrooman posted NCAA B cuts, earning her a position at the NCAAs if enough spots remain in the field. This is Vrooman’s second career Big Ten Swimmer of the Week award, achieving both this season.For Dalesandro, this is also the second time she has been honored this year. She placed sixth in both the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly, earning NCAA B cuts in each event. Dalesandro was part of the 400-meter medley relay team that won bronze with an NCAA qualifying time of 3:34.13.The Hoosiers will resume competition Jan. 18, traveling to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes, Missouri and Big Ten foe Illinois.— Grace Palmieri
(12/09/13 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the final day of competition, a silver, bronze and 400-meter relay school record closed out the USA Winter Nationals in Knoxville, Tenn., for IU swimming.Senior Lindsay Vrooman took silver in the 1,650-meter freestyle and sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass won bronze in the 200-meter backstroke.Vrooman went head-to-head against 16-year-old Olympic Gold Medalist Katie Ledecky in the 1,650-meter freestyle. Ledecky shattered the meet record by almost 10 seconds. With a second-place finish, Vrooman still earned the third fastest time in IU history (15 minutes and 54.68 seconds) and an NCAA A-cut, which means she automatically qualifies for the NCAA Championships.She said the level of competition the team faced this weekend will be helpful later in the season.“There’s just a lot of outside competition like Cal and a lot of other non-college athletes are here, so it really gives us a chance to see where we’re at,” Vrooman said. “It gives us a variety of people to race against, and it’s kind of an atmosphere like NCAAs, so I think that helps us get prepared for Big Tens and NCAAs down the road.”In the mile, sophomore Haley Lips finished 10th in her first swim in the event. In the 200-meter backstroke, Snodgrass took third place with a time of one minute and 52.64 seconds, another NCAA A-cut. “I think we had kind of a slower start to the meet, but we finished well, so it was nice to come together as a team on the last day,” Snodgrass said.To close out the three-day meet, senior Kait Flederbach, junior Cynthia Pammett, senior Stephanie Armstrong and Snodgrass posted a school record in the 400-meter freestyle relay. They finished fourth with a time of three minutes and 16.72 seconds, an NCAA qualifying time.Other top finishes for the women included senior Bronwyn Pasloski’s fifth-place in the 200-meter breaststroke championship final. She clocked in with a -season-best time of one minute and 0.2 seconds.Senior Brenna MacLean was fourth in the 200-meter butterfly, posting the fifth-fastest time in school history. Freshman Gia Dalesandro finished sixth.IU Coach Ray Looze left Knoxville satisfied with how his women’s team performed.“We just swam great from the start of the meet to the finish, so overall we were really pleased,” he said. “We went up against some of the better teams in the NCAA. Cal Berkley has easily got the best team in the country, and we stood up well against them I thought.”On the men’s side, senior Eric Ress placed fourth in the 200-meter backstroke. He just missed an NCAA A-cut with a season-best time of 1:41.58. In the same event, junior Steve Schmuhl was 10th overall and senior James Wells was 13th.Senior Cody Miller finished sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke. Schmuhl won the consolation final of the 200-meter butterfly to place ninth overall.Looze was impressed with the way his older guys competed.“I was really pleased with James Wells. I thought he had a fantastic meet. Eric Ress and Cody Miller finished very strong today, as did Steve Schmuhl,” he said. Although the team struggled acclimating to the high-level competition to begin the meet, Looze said he thought they finished strong.“You have to be an experienced swimmer to have a lot of success at this competition, whether it’s Lindsay Vrooman in the mile or Eric Ress in the 200 back tonight,” he said. On Friday, both teams combined had seven top-eight finishes. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished fourth overall. Snodgrass is encouraged with where they are at the halfway point of the season.“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people at Big Tens,” she said. “We weren’t even rested for this meet, so people can expect even more from us in the future.”Follow swimming and diving reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(12/06/13 2:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU swimming team completed the first day of the three-day USA Swimming Winter National Championships on Thursday.The day’s events included the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle and the 400 medley relay.The best swim of the day was the last one, as the relay team of sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass, senior Bronwyn Pasloski, freshman Gia Dalesandro and senior Kait Flederbach took bronze in the 400-medley relay. Their time of three minutes and 34.13 seconds is an NCAA qualifying standard.In the championship finals, senior Lindsay Vrooman took fourth in the 500-meter freestyle and Haley Lips was seventh, posting a season-best time of four minutes and 42.86 seconds. Flederbach, Snodgrass, junior Cynthia Pammett and senior Stephanie Armstrong placed sixth in the 200 freestyle relay.Also for the women, Dorina Szekeres and Pasloski made it past the morning qualifying rounds to compete in the 200 individual medley finals. Szekeres placed 15th overall in the consolation final. Pasloski won her heat in the bonus final to finish 17th overall and posted a career best, one minute and 59.85.Flederbach swam the 50 freestyle in 22.57 seconds in the preliminary rounds, which is a NCAA B-cut and season best for her.For the men, junior Steve Schmuhl placed eighth in the championship final of the 200 individual medley. In the consolation final, senior Cody Miller was 10th with a season-best time of one minute and 45.95 seconds. Junior Mike Hurley finished 18th in the bonus final.Eric Ress and Jackson Miller both posted season-best times in the 500 freestyle. Ress placed 13th and Miller was 21st.The competition continues today in Knoxville, as the Hoosiers compete in the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay events.- Grace Palmieri
(12/05/13 5:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men’s and women’s swim teams will compete at the 2013 USA Swimming Winter National Championships this weekend in Knoxville, Tenn.The teams will send 32 Hoosiers to the meet, while the remaining swimmers will compete at the local Winter Invitational at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. To qualify, each swimmer needed to meet the Winter National cut time qualification.“This will be the last opportunity for us, either here or down at Winter Nationals, to post some times and really see where we’re at,” IU Coach Ray Looze said.The Hoosiers are coming off a month of training without competition. Looze said it has been a great opportunity for the team to focus on phase one of its training.“We’ve had just a lot of uninterrupted training most importantly,” he said. “We’ve been working on our mental toughness and the ability to swim fast while in heavy training.”Junior swimmer Joe Powell said the team is mentally preparing to get back into competition mode.“We’ve been training really hard the month of November,” he said. “Everyone’s swimming really fast, so we’re coming down a little bit and making sure that we’re more focused on this meet rather than on volume.”Leading the way for the Hoosiers at Winter Nationals will be national team members and seniors Cody Miller and Lindsay Vrooman and junior Steve Schmuhl.Primarily a distance swimmer, Vrooman will be the third seed in the 500-meter and 1,650-meter freestyle. She is also the seventh seed in the 200-meter freestyle.Miller is the top seed in the 200-meter breaststroke and 200-meter individual medley, as well as the second seed in the 100-meter breaststroke. Schmuhl enters the meet as the third seed in the 400-meter IM and seventh seed in the 200-meter IM.For Looze, the team’s goal going into this weekend is clear.“We want to swim really, really fast and make a nice statement to USA swimming that we’re continuing to improve as a program,” he said.Other top swimmers for IU include senior backstrokers Eric Ress and James Wells and sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass. Senior Bronwyn Pasloski will lead the women in the breaststroke, senior Brenna MacLean in the butterfly, and sophomore Haley Lips in the freestyle.The Hoosiers will face off against top programs such as Michigan, Tennessee and Louisville.In the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, the men’s team is currently ranked ninth, and the women are No. 14.This weekend the team hopes to see where it stands among the some of the best teams in the country.“I think it’ll be a good gage of where we are,” Powell said. “When we get a lot of fast swimming in the middle of the season, it helps us get really excited for the end of the season. That way, during the last two months before Big Tens, we always put in a lot of good work, especially after a good winter meet.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(12/04/13 5:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ten high school swimmers have signed their National Letter of Intent to join the IU swim team in 2014 since Nov. 20.The recruiting process for this class began two years ago and still isn’t complete.IU Coach Ray Looze said he is excited about the swimmers the team has so far, especially with the depth and international experience they will bring.In finding swimmers who he can build a team around, Looze said he looks beyond the impressive qualities.He looks for the intangibles, such as work ethic, character, leadership, competitiveness and ability to perform under pressure.Looze said he looks at whether each swimmer is team-oriented.“In a two-hour workout you start to reveal who you really are,” he said. “The individualist will not be happy at Indiana University.”Looze said he continues to recruit 365 days a year, and he doesn’t go a day without doing something in recruiting — not even national holidays.The recruiting doesn’t stop there, though.Junior Dorina Szekeres is from Hungary and freshman Anze Tavcar came to IU from Slovenia.Kennedy Goss, a Toronto native, will join Canadian sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass and junior Cynthia Pammett in 2014.Goss competed at Junior Worlds, the top meet for swimmers 18 and younger. She will swim the backstroke and freestyle.Goss’s father was an Olympic swimmer, and her mother is a sports psychologist.Although she won’t be close to home, Goss looks to follow in their footsteps as she works toward her own Olympic dream and studies psychology at IU.Also on the women’s side, sprinter Kaitlin Kitchens will become a Hoosier in 2014.Out of Atlanta, she currently swims for one of the top teams in the country.Ali Rockett and Delaney Barnard complete a trio of freestylers for the recruiting class.Marie Chamberlain, from Cape Cod, Mass., was the YMCA National Champion last year and holds the meet’s record in the 100-meter backstroke. She will join the IU backstroke squad.For Chamberlain, swimming at IU is the next step toward her Olympic dream.She began swimming at age 8 and said she always hoped to compete at the highest level. She said she now sets her sights on Rio and Tokyo.“Marie Chamberlain goes in line with some of the great backstrokers we have in the program and have had,” Looze said. “We think she can be really, really good.”Looze said he is continuing to search for a female breaststroker and female distance swimmer.On the men’s side, Teddy Kalp and Blake Pieroni are two who competed at Junior Worlds with Goss.Kalp, a Canadian, is primarily a middle-distance freestyler.Pieroni was one of the top Indiana recruits, helping lead Chesterton High School to the state title last season.He is the defending Indiana High School Champion in the 200 individual medley and two-time defending champion in the 100-meter freestyle for Chesterton.“Blake Pieroni is one of the top 18 and under freestylers in the world,” Looze said. “He was probably the top overall recruit for the state of Indiana, so it’s awesome to get him.”Brandon Colonis, from West Lafayette, and Cody Taylor, from Columbus, Ind., are two other in-state recruits.Both are primarily breaststrokers and Taylor, who is a member of the Junior National team, was state champion last winter in the 100-yard breaststroke.For now, Ryan Gordon completes the 2014 freshman class.His best strokes are the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, and he was a U.S. Open Qualifier in 2013.“Ryan Gordon is a backstroker and IM-er from New York State,” Looze said. “We’re losing a lot of backstrokers with Eric (Ress) and James (Wells) graduating, so he’s going to really help us.”As for replacing this year’s seniors, Looze said it’s not all about filling spots in each individual stroke.“The biggest thing we’re losing is awesome leadership,” he said. “We don’t always try to replace by need, but more by those characteristics.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(11/14/13 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When senior diver Darian Schmidt started diving, he was a freshman in high school. Just two months later, he quit.Later that year, he got a phone call. It was from Mark Lenzi, 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist. Lenzi, a wrestler in high school, began diving after being captivated by Greg Louganis’ performance at the 1984 Olympic games. Diving immediately became his passion.An IU alum, Lenzi had just moved back to Indiana and was coaching the local club diving team. Then he called Schmidt.“He called me and said, ‘I heard you dove last year but didn’t like it. Just come check it out, and maybe you’ll like it.’ And my parents were like, ‘I think that’s the Olympic Gold Medalist,’” Schmidt said. “That was the coolest thing ever.”All his life, Schmidt had played football, basketball and baseball. When he got to high school, he decided he was too small to continue playing the sports he had always loved. As a freshman, he stuck with baseball hoping to eventually play in college.After he got the call from Lenzi, however, his focus turned to diving. He began training year round, competing for his high school team at Bloomington South as well as IU club diving. Schmidt said he liked the change to an individual sport.“I like having all the pressure on me,” he said. “I can’t blame somebody else. It’s not like ‘Oh, we lost because we could’ve played better defense.’ It’s all on me.”His first year back as a diver, he reached state championships. Schmidt then built on this accomplishment his junior year with a third-place finish. Less than three years after beginning his training in the sport, he was state champion.Schmidt is from Bloomington and wanted to attend IU ever since he could remember. He grew up with four brothers and, being family-oriented, never wanted to leave.He was also raised among a family of athletes. Both of his parents were gymnasts at IU. Though he was never a gymnast, Schmidt said he probably got the flipping from them.Long before he set his sights on diving, Schmidt would flip on the trampoline in the backyard with his dad, and he would often dive at the swimming pool in the summer. It was always just for fun, though, never anything close to an Olympic dream.That all changed one day at club diving practice. Lenzi brought in his Olympic gold medal to show the team. After trying on the medal, Schmidt knew that was something he wanted to accomplish.He has spent the past couple Olympics watching the athletes he aspires to one day become.“Just watching those athletes dedicate their lives and put their heart and soul into diving, or any sport, and then to watch them achieve it is super inspiring,” he said.He knew achieving the high goals he had set for himself wouldn’t just come to him. It would take unrivaled dedication. Schmidt said he looks forward to every practice and never gets tired of seeing how much he can improve each day.“I try to take every day and give it 100 percent in the pool,” he said.He has mental routines for before each meet, in between each dive and right before performing the dive. Before the meet, he hits a sign that says “Whatever It Takes,” a reminder to remain motivated toward his ultimate goals.In addition to the 20 hours of practice a week, Schmidt often comes early to practice or stays late to get in more work. His hard work has shown in competition so far in his collegiate career.As a sophomore, Schmidt was Big Ten Champion in the 3-meter and synchronized competitions and was on his way to being named Big Ten Diver of the Championships. He repeated this feat a year later, while going on to place sixth on the 1-meter and third on the 3-meter at the NCAA Championships. He was also named Big Ten Diver of the Year.Last summer at United States Nationals, he had second, third and fourth-place finishes in the synchronized 3-meter, 1-meter and 3-meter competitions, respectively. Schmidt also currently owns six school records.“He’s competing with the best divers in the country right now and starting to compete against some of the best divers in the world,” IU Diving Coach Drew Johansen said. “He doesn’t have the long history (in diving). He has developed that world level in a relatively short period of time. It’s pretty special.”Schmidt has high expectations for the remainder of this season, as he hopes to be Big Ten Champion in the 1- and 3-meter, just as Lenzi was in 1989. Other goals include becoming NCAA Champion on the 1- and 3-meter and being champion at U.S. Nationals in December.Though his eligibility will expire at the conclusion of the season, he has one year of school left. Next year, he will continue to train at IU and be coached by Johansen. Schmidt said once he’s done with school in 2014, his “life will be training.”At the Olympic Trials in 2016, he will attempt to qualify in both the 3-meter springboard and 3-meter synchronized competitions.“Our hope is for him to get a lot more international experience next year once the NCAA career comes to an end. Traveling internationally and competing head to head with divers around the world is the next step for Darian in his quest for Rio,” Johansen said.Schmidt said he doesn’t know what’s in store for him after 2016. He hopes to continue diving for as long as possible.When his diving career comes to a close, he doesn’t want to leave the sport. Schmidt said he wants to become a diving coach, first at the club level and eventually take over a college program.For now, though, his life is all about the Olympic dream.“I eat, sleep and breathe diving,” he said. “Right now we’re definitely training for the college season, but we’re preparing for the Olympics.”At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Mark Lenzi was the 3-meter springboard champion. It wasn’t until 20 years later that an American won a medal in diving again when David Boudia, Purdue University alum, took gold in the 10-meter platform and bronze in the 10-meter synchronized at the London Olympics in 2012.In 2016, Schmidt will attempt to become a part of the tradition of Big Ten diving success.“He does the hardest dives in the world and makes them as easy as anybody,” Johansen said. “He’s probably one of the best divers in the U.S. and amongst the world.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(11/04/13 3:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU swimming Coach Ray Looze had an almost endless list of swimmers to praise after Friday’s meet.The men’s team saw contributions all across the board in its 208-92 and 179-121 sweep of Kentucky and No. 8 Tennessee, respectively.“We put emphasis on this meet all week long,” Looze said. “We couldn’t be happier going against two solid SEC opponents.”Senior swimmer Eric Ress won the 200-meter backstroke and both the 500-meter and 1,000-meter freestyle. Looze said such a race load was uncommon, and the result was the kind of aggression he was looking for out of his swimmers.“For a guy to be able to do that and then still throw up a great relay split on the end was phenomenal leadership,” Looze said.Ress said the team trained even harder this past week than it had previously.“Basically what we did this week was we took what we did at Texas/Michigan and worked out a lot of those things like really good finishes and winning close races, just being more competitive at practice,” Ress said.The Hoosiers went 1-2-3 in the 200-meter freestyle with freshmen Anze Tavcar, Max Irwin and Jackson Miller finishing first, second and third, respectively.IU’s relay team of senior James Wells, senior Cody Miller, Irwin and sophomore Tanner Kurz won the 200-meter medley relay. Other first-place finishes included Miller in the 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter individual medley, and junior Steve Schmuhl in the 200-meter butterfly.Ress said the biggest difference in team results this week was encouragement from teammates.“At first, I didn’t know how much of an impact that was going to have, but it was incredible how much having everybody cheer and be really loud motivated everyone,” he said.Looze is confident in the progress his team is making from week to week.“By February or March we’re going to end up with a great team that has a chance to be top five in NCAA’s because of what we’ve been through over the past several weeks,” he said.The women’s team earned another split this weekend, beating Kentucky handily 199-95 and losing to No. 8 Tennessee 171-123.The team was shorthanded this week with the absence of senior Kait Flederbach, who was ill. Senior Allie Day also missed practice at the beginning of the week due to illness but was still able to compete.“This was an opportunity for others to step up,” Looze said. “We showed such toughness and fought tooth and nail to the end.”Sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass, freshman Gia Dalesandro, senior Bronwyn Pasloski and senior Stephanie Armstrong opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-meter medley relay. The Hoosiers went 1-3 in the 100-meter backstroke with Snodgrass finishing first and Day, third.Last week’s Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Olivia Barker, was second in the 200-meter butterfly, posting a season-best time of 1:58.88.In diving, senior Kate Hillman finished second in the 3-meter competition and was third on the 1-meter.With the absence of senior diver Darian Schmidt due to injury, the men’s team had to show its depth competing against two of the top diving programs in the country.Senior Emad Abdelatif won the 1-meter springboard competition with a personal best 350.20 points. Seniors Bryce Ogden and Conor Murphy then went 2-3 in the 3-meter.“Today was a marked improvement on their consistency,” head diving Coach Drew Johansen said. “All the scores were higher than what they’ve been, and the misses they had were not substantial misses.”Looze was complimentary of the divers as well in being able to come through to help them win.“Just in general, to see IU diving show their depth and the fact that anybody can step up and get the job done against this kind of competition was great,” he said.Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(11/01/13 4:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This season, the men’s swimming team has experienced something it isn’t normally accustomed to. The Hoosiers have lost to their first four opponents of the season, No. 1 Michigan, No. 3 California, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Stanford.After finishing ninth in the NCAA Championships last season, IU is now ranked No. 9. This weekend, the team hopes to bounce back as it plays host to a dual meet with Tennessee and Kentucky.IU Coach Ray Looze said he expects to see high-level competition again this weekend. He said he’s worried the Hoosiers are looking like a beatable team right now and wants to see more from his swimmers.“We definitely need to get more people able to step up while they’re working intensely,” he said. “We’re training really hard right now, but you have to assume other programs are doing the same thing.”After a positive week of practice, the No. 9 Hoosiers hope to take a step forward. This includes leading from the start of the meet and taking the momentum early.Looze said he hopes this weekend will “improve their confidence and get them turned around mentally” as they look to get back on track.He looks forward to them being able to compete again with less than a week of practice.“Both Kentucky and Tennessee are good quality SEC teams, so the fortunate thing is we get to get right back on the horse really quick,” he said.Looze’s main focus for his team this week is to be aggressive. The team remains confident in the overall progress it is making, even if the score doesn’t reflect that right now.“You’re only as good as the last thing you do,” Looze said.The women’s team is coming off a split, defeating Michigan and losing to Texas. The women are now 2-2 on the season and they face No. 8 Tennessee this weekend.Freshman Gia Dalesandro said she expects IU will see similar competition to last weekend.“I think some events we should go 1-2 in and others will be more of a fight to win, but I think we can do it,” she said. “I know we were all upset that we lost by three points to Texas, so I don’t think that’s going to happen again.”Last week, the IU women swept the Big Ten weekly awards with senior Lindsay Vrooman being named Swimmer of the Week and Olivia Barker earning Freshman of the Week honors.The team looks to build off of its successes this weekend.“We’re all mentally preparing for the challenge and getting really excited,” Dalesandro said.IU Coach Drew Johansen is looking for “overall consistency” from the divers. He said although each diver may not get a victory at each meet, the day can still be successful.“For me it’s about how they go about doing their dives, the process of the dive, more so than the outcome of the dive right now,” he said.This week in practice the team worked on the technical aspects of its dives and the Hoosiers worked to simulate a real meet situation.“This week we went back to the basics a little bit,” senior diver Darian Schmidt said. “We had two meets the past three weekends, and we just took a step back and drilled in our basics. Then we amped up the numbers and brought our hard dives in at the end of the week.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(10/30/13 3:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the second consecutive week, IU women’s swimming has swept the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week honors. Senior Lindsay Vrooman was named Swimmer of the Week, and freshman Olivia Barker was named Freshman of the Week.This is Vrooman’s first Big Ten Swimmer of the Week award. In the team’s meet against Michigan and Texas, Vrooman won both the 500-meter and 1,000-meter freestyle. She also took third place in the 200-meter freestyle.Barker’s performance last weekend made her IU’s second Freshman of the Week this season. She won the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:58.93, an NCAA B cut and the best time in this event by a Hoosier this year. Barker also placed fourth in the 100-meter butterfly.The week before saw sophomore Brooklynn Snodgrass and Gia Dalesandro earn Big Ten Swimmer of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week This weekend, the team will play host to a dual meet against Tennessee and Kentucky.— Grace Palmieri
(10/28/13 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>To open up their home schedules, the IU swimming and diving teams competed in a dual meet against Michigan and Texas this past weekend.The men’s swimming team struggled against the No. 1 Wolverines and No. 4 Longhorns, falling 203-97 and 204-96, respectively.On Friday, senior Cody Miller finished second in the 100-meter breaststroke, and sophomore Tanner Kurz was fourth. Miller was also third in the 200-meter breaststroke.Senior Eric Ress posted a second place finish in the 200-meter backstroke and was the top IU swimmer in the 500-meter free, finishing third.“We have to step up a little bit more against this level of competition, especially on the men’s side,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “They know that, and they will.”The Hoosiers have faced four of the top five teams in the country this season. “They’ve got great teams, and it just sort of lets us know where we’re at against teams that are competing for national titles because that’s where we want to be at Indiana,” Looze said.On the women’s side, sophomore Brooklyn Snodgrass and freshman Gia Dalesandro each picked up two wins to lead the Hoosiers to a 181-119 win against Michigan. They fell just short against Texas, 151.5-148.5.The two were also part of the winning 200-meter medley relay team. Snodgrass posted a second place finish in the 200-meter backstroke.“Based on this weekend alone, our team had great chemistry,” she said. “We were always cheering for each other, making sure everyone was supported, and everyone usually swims pretty fast when we support each other, so the rest of the season should be pretty fun.”The team as a whole won four of the first five events and swept the distance events.“They are doing a lot of the things that a great team, a championship team, needs to do,” he said.In the diving well, senior Darian Schmidt finished third on the 1-meter, while senior Emad Abdelatif was sixth and senior Conor Murphy, seventh. Schmidt then beat out Texas’ Will Chandler to win the 3-meter competition with a score of 400.45. Murphy finished fourth, and Abdelatif was sixth.Schmidt has now won four of six events to start the season. IU Coach Drew Johansen said he wanted him to perform different dives than he had in California a couple weeks ago, as he works on putting a full list together to give him the best chance to be competitive come postseason.“Even though the results were him winning in both of the meets, I’m happy to see him do it different ways,” Johansen said.For the women’s team, senior Cassidy Kahn took fourth in the 1-meter, and senior Kate Hillman finished second in the 3-meter competition.“We had some misses in there that didn’t allow us to be higher up in the standings,” Johansen said. “But for this part of the year, I think they’re in a good place.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.
(10/25/13 4:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU swimming and diving teams open their home schedule tonight in a dual meet as they take on Michigan and Texas in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.The women are coming off a second place finish at the SMU Classic this past weekend, falling only to top-ranked USC.Sophomore Brooklyn Snodgrass finished first in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke, while also winning the 400 medley relay. Also part of that relay team was freshman Gia Dalesandro, who earned Big Ten weekly honors for her performance at the meet.IU Coach Ray Looze expects tough competition this weekend as well.“They faced some great teams,” Looze said. “We continue to put their backs against the wall.”The men’s team hopes to see improvement after two losses to California and Stanford in its season opener. This weekend presents one of the biggest challenges of their season, as they face No. 4 Texas and No. 1 Michigan, which is the defending national champion.Looze is looking for his team to take the next step against well-coached, high-ranked teams by winning more races and posting some of the better times in the NCAA.“It’s the kind of competition that I feel is important for us to go up against, so that we’re prepared for things of greater importance like NCAAs and Big Tens that happen late in the season,” Looze said.The team had just come out of its general conditioning phase and wasn’t happy with its overall performance against its first two opponents. They are now making the transition into a different training cycle with more speed and resistance training. They hope to see improvements this weekend.“There will be multiple NCAA finalists in every heat,” senior Cody Miller said. “So the fast heat from every event is basically an NCAA final.”The men’s diving team also hopes to bounce back this weekend. Senior Darian Schmidt won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events against California and defeated reigning NCAA champion Kristian Ipsen on the 3-meter at Stanford.IU Coach Drew Johansen expects big things from him, as well as senior divers Kate Hillman and Cassidy Kahn, again this weekend.“If they stay true to their technique and stay true to the process of the dive, I’ll be happy with the result,” Johansen said.Johansen is looking for consistency and for the divers to score in as many events as possible.“It’s going to be a good gage to see how we’ll match up against some of the top programs from last year,” he said.Looze agrees it’s best to be facing tough competition now in order to be the best they can be at the end of the season.“We’re trying to really dial it up a notch in terms of putting the highest level of competition in front of our swimmers and divers that we can,” Looze said. “The only ranking that really matters is the last one.”Follow reporter Grace Palmieri on Twitter @gpalmieri7.