Hoosiers Douse Devils

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, October 28. INDIANA posted a pair of wins over Arizona State on Saturday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. The No. 11 Men knocked off its second ranked opponent of the season topping No. 19 Arizona State, 156-132. The No. 17 Hoosier women ran their season-opening win streak to three, beating Arizona State, 155-134.

For the men, Ben Hesen, Pat Penoyar, Nick Walkotten and Todd Patrick did most of the heavy lifting, combining for 10 of the Hoosiers' 11 wins on the day. Diver Taylor Roberts picked up Indiana's other victory.

Hesen, Penoyar, Walkotten and Patrick got the meet started on the right foot for the Hoosiers (2-1, 0-1 Big Ten), turning in a time of 1:31.07 to easily win the 200-yard medley relay. Arizona State's Sean Boyle, John Dwelley, Max Laney and Steve Neuwart were nearly four seconds off the pace, finishing in 1:34.93.

Hesen and Patrick continued their early dominance, winning three individual events each.

Hesen took the 100-yard backstroke for the third straight meet, winning in 50.00, then completed the sweep in the back events by cruising to a win in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.40, more than three seconds ahead of second-place Ante Cvitkovic of the Sun Devils (1:54.57).

Hesen capped his big day with a win in the 100-yard butterfly, posting a time of 49.76 to edge ASU's Boyle (50.08).

Patrick took the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle for the second time this season, as he also turned the triple against Kentucky on Oct. 21. Patrick touched in 1:39.69 to claim the 200 free, then snagged the 50 free in 20.70. The junior from Chesterfield, Mo., completed the sweep with a time of 45.48 in the 100 free, edging Arizona State's Neuwart (45.71).

Penoyar claimed both breaststroke events, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 56.95 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:03.53. The Hoosiers swept the top four spots in the 100 breast, as Ronald Hehn, Heath Tameris and Justin Peterfish finished second through fourth, respectively.

Walkotten picked up a victory in the 200-yard butterfly, taking the event in 1:51.92. Walkotten was in second place entering the final 25 yards, but kept the pressure on Arizona State's CJ Nuess, eventually pulling ahead for the come-from-behind win.

Roberts earned the win in the one-meter, posting a score of 361.50 to best ASU's Mickey Benedetti. Benedetti took the three-meter with a score of 410.92, with Roberts finishing second with a score of 346.87 and IU's Justin Montrie taking third with a 311.17 mark.

Lucas Azevedo won both the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:24.27) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:32.53) for the Sun Devils, while Nuess placed first in the 400-yard individual medley in 3:58.03. ASU closed the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with Neuwart, Magnus Kjellberg, Mohammed Madwa and Azevedo winning in 1:24.50.

The win over the Sun Devils (1-2) got the Hoosiers back in the win column following their loss to No. 8 Northwestern. Indiana opened the season with a win over No. 18 Kentucky on Oct. 21.

"It was nice to get back on the winning track," head coach Ray Looze said. "It's good to have Nick Walkotten back in the lineup, he definitely gives us some more flexibility. Again, Ben Hesen and Todd Patrick were indispensable. That close win by Nick in the 200 fly I thought really turned the tide of the meet, because he was losing the whole way. The breaststrokers did an outstanding job. They showed some improvement today. I really can't say enough about the diving. It looks like they had a great day over in the other pool. Hopefully we can use this and build on it and get ready for next week."

On the women's side of the meet, Indiana (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) opened with a thrilling win in the 200-yard medley relay. Leila Vaziri, Sarah Stockwell, Allison Kay and Annica Lofstedt teamed to post a time of 1:42.62, with Lofstedt touching out the Sun Devils' Jen Beckberger to give the Hoosiers the win. ASU's Caitlin Andrew, Sara McDaniel, Ashton Aubry and Beckberger turned in a time of 1:42.94.

For the third consecutive meet, Indiana never trailed. Leading 11-6 after the opening relay, the Hoosiers' up-and-coming young distance squad went 1-2-3 in the 1,000-yard freestyle to open up some breathing room. Freshman Emma Berry won the event in 10:06.77, while classmates Cassie Luhrsen (10:09.16) and Amilee Smith (10:10.67) were second and third, respectively.

Beckberger got ASU (2-1) in the win column with her victory in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:51.06, while IU freshman Emily Lanteigne finished second. Berry, having had just 10 minutes to recover after the grueling 1,000 free, continued to impress early in her career with a third-place finish.

Vaziri posted the Hoosiers' first NCAA cut on the day in the 100-yard backstroke, winning the event in 54.74 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Stockwell followed that up with a win in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching in 1:04.14 to edge Arizona State's Ashley Evans (1:04.69).

Kay made it three consecutive events wins for Indiana with a win in the 200-yard butterfly. The sophomore blazed to a time of 2:01.90 for her first NCAA B cut of the season.

Andrew snapped the Hoosiers' win streak when she touched out Vaziri in the 50-yard freestyle, as her time of 23.41 was 0.08 seconds better than Vaziri's.

Vaziri earned her second B cut of the day in the 100-yard freestyle, as she smoked the field to win in 50.82. Vaziri has posted NCAA provisional times in the 100 free in all three meets of the 2006-07 season thus far.

Freshman Presley Bard added another win for IU in the 200-yard backstroke, as she turned in a time of 2:01.96, just missing the B standard of 2:01.32.

Smith added a win in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching out ASU's Christine Creek with a time of 2:18.60. Creek finished in 2:18.73.

Kay then won two of the next three events, taking the 500-yard freestyle in 4:58.30 and the 400-yard individual medley in an NCAA B time of 4:22.54. Andrew won the 100-yard butterfly for the Sun Devils in 54.63 between Kay's wins.

ASU, which knocked off No. 25 Purdue on Oct. 27, closed the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as Beckberger, Jess Perazzo, Abra Armour and Lindsey Brown turned in a time of 1:34.95 to top Lofstedt, Bard, Lanteigne and Clarissa Wentworth (1:35.11).

For the second consecutive day, Christina Loukas won both diving events. The Hoosiers took the top four spots in the one-meter, with Loukas posting a score of 321.60 and Lindsay Weigle, Heather Chapman and Brittney Feldman following Loukas, in that order.

Loukas, the reigning Big Ten Diver of the Week, turned in another solid effort to claim the three-meter, scoring 360.90 points for the win. Weigle followed in second with 336.00 points, while Arizona State's Cassidy Farwell was third with 288.07.

"It was a tougher opponent today, and I think the medley relay really set the tone," Looze said. "They've got a really good medley relay, one of the best backstrokers in the country in Caitlin Andrew, and to be able to get the touch there really allowed us to take a little pressure off and do our thing. We still need to get better at the fundamentals, and we need to get more points out of our younger swimmers, so we've got a lot of work to do there in development. Our big guns are doing what they should, but I would have liked to have seen, for example, in the 400 IM, getting everyone under 4:30. That would have been a good benchmark. We have more work to do, but we're working hard and we've got some positive attitudes. Next week will really be a good barometer down in Texas."

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