Big Ten Weekly Preview: Indiana Faces Louisville in Showdown

Indiana's Vini Lanza. Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold / Aringo Photos

By Dan D’Addona.

The biggest meet in the Big Ten Conference this week is not a conference meet.

It is a regional matchup between two of the best teams in the Midwest. On Friday, Indiana will swim at Louisville.

The No. 4 Indiana men are coming off of big wins over No. 8 Michigan and rival Purdue. The Hoosier women lost to Michigan but bounced back to beat Purdue.

They will face No. 14 Louisville. In the women’s meet, Indiana is No. 10 and Louisville is No. 8. Both meets should come down to the final few events.

Against Purdue, senior Ali Khalafalla won the 50 freestyle (19.68) and 100 freestyle (44.10), while Vini Lanza swept the butterfly events, winning the 100 in 47.34 and the 200 in 1:46.11.

Ian Finnerty took first in both breaststroke events, winning the 100 with a mark of 52.72 and the 200 in 1:57.06. Freshman Gabriel Fantoni continued his great swimming, winning both backstroke events. The Brazilian touched first in the 100 in a season-best time of 46.86 and the 200 in 1:44.91.

In the women’s meet, Lilly King, who took home three individual wins against the Boilermakers. The junior won the 100 breaststroke (1:01.36), 200 breaststroke (2:10.61) and 200 IM (2:01.29) with NCAA B cut times.

Senior Ali Rockett won a pair of events – the 100 backstroke in a NCAA B cut of 53.13 and the 50 freestyle in 23.13. In the diving well, Jessica Parratto took first in both events, winning with NCAA Zones qualifying scores. The redshirt junior placed first in the 1-meter with a score of 345.45 and the platform with a season-best total of 350.33.

There are plenty of other meets in the Big Ten this week, and the rest of the swim meets are multi-day events. .

On Friday, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin will all travel to the Notre Dame invitational, which is a two-day meet.

Minnesota hosts Northwestern and Purdue for a double-dual meet, also a two-day event.

Illinois hosts the two-day Illinois Duals and Nebraska swims at Rutgers, again following the two-day theme of the week.

Penn State will host a diving invite on Saturday.

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