The Indiana swimming and diving teams started what could be a strong year in the pool with a decisive win over the University of Cincinnati. Racing in their home pool, Indiana’s women’s and men’s teams won 25 of 32 events.
The Cincinnati men’s team came prepared to battle the Hoosiers, rallying in the second half of the meet to close a major gap in the scores. Indiana was able to pull off the win, though, 157-135, while the women were victorious with a score of 186-105.
Indiana’s two current Hoosiers on the USA Swimming national team, Blake Pieroni and Lilly King, represented the team well with one win each. For Pieroni, it didn’t come in the 200 freestyle, his pet event, but in the 100 breaststroke. Pieroni captured that event with a 56.05, more than a second ahead of runner-up Ludo Corsini of Cincinnati. King, a national team member in the 100 breast, skipped that event today but won the 200 distance with a 2:20.87 ahead of a trio of Cincinnati Bearcats.
Haley Lips, a scoring contender in the distance freestyles at the NCAAs next March as a senior, won three events for Indiana, starting with a 1:48.80 in the 200 free and finishing her day with a 4:55.74 in the 500 free to win by seven seconds. In between, she cranked out a 2:00.14 to win handily in the 200 fly.
Two men from Cincinnati each won two events. Chris Bready won both distance freestyle races with a 9:17.16 in the 1000 free and 4:33.55 in the 500 free. Bready’s time in the 1000 was just a second off his season best from 2015, and it’s only the first meet of the current season. Ryan DePietro took the 200 fly in 1:52.37 and won the 400 IM with a 4:01.73 in a very close battle with Indiana’s Grayson Smith, who was second with a 4:02.00.
Jackie Keire, Cincinnati’s first women’s All-American in a decade, won the women’s 50 free with a 23.58 over the 23.71 by Indiana’s Gabi Rajic. Eitan Holder and Tyler Roehr were the other winners for Cincinnati, as Holder took the 100 fly with a 50.58 by a tenth over Indiana’s Oliver Patrouch and Roehr won the 200 breast by three seconds with a 2:06.14.
Stephanie Marchuk had a dominating win for Indiana in the women’s 1000 free, posting a 10:01.99 to win by 15 seconds over teammate Delaney Bernard. Another large winning margin came in the women’s 100 breast, where Miranda Tucker took the event by three seconds with a 1:03.74.
NCAA platform diving champion Jessica Parratto and two-time NCAA champion Michael Hixon didn’t compete in the dual meet, but their diving talents weren’t needed. Lacey Houser won both women’s springboard diving events, and Joshua Arndt was equally dominate on the men’s side.
Other winners for Indiana:
Max Irwin: Men’s 200 free, 1:40.33
Marie Chamberlain: Women’s 100 back, 55.24
Joseph Lane: Men’s 100 back, 50.82
Sam Lorentz: Men’s 50 free, 20.71
Kaitlin Kitchens: Women’s 100 free, 51.77
Ali Khalafalla: Men’s 100 free, 45.51
Bailey Pressey: 2:01.44
Ryan Gordon: Men’s 200 back, 1:51.48
Christie Jensen: Women’s 100 fly, 56.12
Shelly Drozda: Women’s 400 IM, 4:24.56
Way to go Lilly & Christie!! From fellow Sea Creatures!!!
Justine Ress???