Hoosiers Tame Wildcats, 171-127 Women/175-125 Men

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, October 21. INDIANA'S men's swimming and diving team officially opened its 2006-07 season with a 175-125 win over Kentucky at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on Saturday, Oct. 21. Meanwhile, IU's women kicked off its dual-meet season with a 171-127 win over the Wildcats

For the men, the No. 12 Hoosiers (1-0) never trailed in the meet, winning the first four events before the No. 18 Wildcats (0-1) broke through with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke. Juniors Ben Hesen and Todd Patrick both claimed four wins on the day for Indiana, while Pat Penoyar and Alex Brunfeldt took a pair of events each.

Hesen, Penoyar, Patrick and Lee Houchin opened with a win in the 400-yard medley relay, touching in 3:19.76 to easily top the Wildcats' relay, which was 1.44 seconds behind. After Hesen got the Hoosiers out to a decent lead, Kentucky's Mickey Malul was able to close the gap a bit in the breaststroke leg. But Patrick turned in a solid effort in the butterfly to open up another IU lead, and Houchin closed with a strong swim in the freestyle to cap the win.

From there it was all Hoosiers, as Indiana swept the top four spots in the 1,000-yard freestyle, with Brunfeldt picking up his first win of the day in a time of 9:25.07. Steffan Troxel followed in second place, while Ryan McNeill was third and Jensen Ried was fourth.

Patrick then picked up a win in the 200-yard freestyle, blowing the field away in 1:40.00. Kentucky's Kyle Greene was a distant second, finishing in 1:42.40. Hesen capped the early Indiana run with a win in the 100-yard backstroke, holding off UK's Shane Eliason with a time of 50.23.

Malul snapped the Hoosiers' win streak with his victory in the 100 breast, which he took in 56.15. Penoyar hung with Malul, but finished in 56.87 to nab second place.

Kentucky made it two in a row in the 200-yard butterfly, as Grant Nelson easily outdistanced the field to win in 1:51.78. James Batley gave the Wildcats a 1-2 sweep, as he was second in 1:53.57. Steven Murry took third for the Hoosiers, finishing just behind Batley in 1:53.84.

Patrick earned another win in the 50-yard freestyle, touching in 20.48 to hold off Kentucky's Eric McGinnis, who touched in 21.29.

Justin Smith picked up another win for Kentucky with the top score of 295.80 in the one-meter dive. Indiana's Taylor Roberts was close behind with a score of 289.72, while freshman David Piercy took third in his first collegiate meet with a score of 288.45.

Patrick completed his sweep of the sprint free events with a win in the 100-yard freestyle, touching first in 45.03, 1.57 seconds faster than second-place McGinnis. Hesen then picked up his third win of the day in the 200-yard backstroke, turning in a time of 1:49.55.

Penoyar followed that with a win in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching in 2:04.20, while Murry was second for the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers then padded their lead with a 1-2 finish in the 500-yard freestyle, with Brunfeldt taking first in 4:33.96 and John Kevin Koehler not far behind in second. Hesen then claimed his fourth event of the day, posting a time of 49.37 in the 100-yard butterfly.

The Hoosiers took four of the top five spots in the three-meter dive, with Roberts, David Legler, Will Bohonyi and Justin Montrie placing second through fourth, respectively. Smith completed his sweep of the boards with a score of 326.25 for the win.

"I was pleased," head diving coach Dr. Jeff Huber said. "I thought David Piercy really did some nice things on one-meter, and then on three-meter he threw two brand new dives. Taylor Roberts did a great job. Inward three and a half, that's the first time he's done that. There are probably only three guys in the country doing that dive, and he did it the first time for 5.5. So we're really pleased, that's a nice sign."

Murry picked up the Hoosiers' final win of the day with his 1:54.50 effort in the 200-yard individual medley.

Kentucky closed the meet with a relay win, as Alexander Forbes, Warren Grobbelaar, McGinnis and Eliason turned in a time of 3:04.14 to take the 400-yard freestyle relay.

"It was nice to see some younger guys and some guys that haven't had to step up, step up," head coach Ray Looze said. "I think Todd Patrick and Ben Hesen were both great leaders today, winning all their events. I don't know where we'd be without them, because we're a little shorthanded. I thought the distance guys were outstanding. I'm pleased with how the guys are working. We've got some developing to do out of the freshmen so they can step up and score some points as the competition gets even stiffer as the season progresses."

For the women, No. 17 Indiana (1-0) led wire to wire, never trailing after bursting out of the gates with a dominant win in the 400-yard medley relay. Leila Vaziri, Sarah Stockwell, Allison Kay and Annica Lofstedt turned in an impressive effort, posting a time of 3:46.10 to outdistance the second-place No. 23 Wildcats (0-1) by more than four seconds.

Vaziri, Kay and freshman Presley Bard each won three events on the day for the Hoosiers, while Christina Loukas set a school record in the three-meter dive.

In addition to her relay win, Vaziri claimed victory in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle. Vaziri turned in a time of 1:51.36 in the 200 free, and took the 100 free with a time of 50.94.

Kay took wins in both the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley on the afternoon. The sophomore posted a time of 2:02.30 in the 200 fly to win going away, while her time of 2:06.77 was good for the win in the 200 IM.

Bard earned her first win of the day in the 100-yard backstroke, touching in 55.90 to easily outdistance the field. She followed that up with a win the 200-yard backstroke, taking that event in 2:02.47. Her final win came in the last women's event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Lofstedt, Bard, Emily Lanteigne and Clarissa Wentworth teamed to post a time of 3:27.93 to ice the IU win.

Loukas swept both springboard events for the Hoosiers, capturing the one-meter with a score of 301.05 and the three-meter with a score of 373.95. Her three-meter score was a dual-meet record for the Hoosiers, besting Lindsay Weigle's 357.75, set last season. Weigle turned in the third-best scores in both events on the day, but dove both as exhibitions.

"I thought Christina did a nice job," Huber said. "It was nice to see, especially because we have the World Championship selection camp coming up in December. And I thought Lindsay Weigle did some nice stuff. I really feel like she's just really close to taking her springboard up to another level. A lot of the women threw some new dives. Britney Yancey threw a few new dives, Brittney Feldman threw a few new dives, as well. This time of year, we're not really trying to peak for this dual meet, we're trying to do things we think are important and necessary for the competition part of the season."

Freshman Emma Berry had an impressive debut for Indiana, winning a pair of individual events. The rookie from Overland Park, Kan., claimed victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:07.93, making her the ninth-best Hoosier swimmer in the event in school history. After a break of no more than 10 minutes, she was back in the water, finishing with the third-best time in the 200-yard freestyle, which she swam as an exhibition. Berry capped her big day with a win in the 500-yard freestyle, taking the event in 4:59.28. She was the only swimmer to break the five-minute barrier in the event.

Stockwell picked up a win for IU in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching in 1:03.80 to top Kentucky's Lindsay Myhre by nearly a second.

Freshman Amilee Smith won the Hoosiers' other individual event on the day, taking the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:18.36. Her time made her the sixth-fastest Hoosier swimmer in school history in the event.

The Wildcats' Jennifer Bradford was a double winner on the day, as picked up victories in the 50-yard freestyle (23.07) and the 100-yard butterfly (56.26) for Kentucky's only two wins.

"It was a good start, and it was nice to see the freshmen in action," Looze said. "We're working real, real hard right now. It was good to get the rust off and kind of see what we have. It's too early to really single out anybody, but what I'm really impressed with is how hard everybody's working."

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