Looze admits that his team lacks the depth of Texas or Cal\u2014although he did point out that the Hoosiers used improve depth to win this year\u2019s Big Ten Championships by almost six times their margin from 2017. But Indiana developed a formula in making a run at last year\u2019s national championship that didn\u2019t involve incredible depth: Big points from four individual scorers, big diving points and strong relays.<\/p>\n
![\"vini](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/vini-lanza-2018-mncaa-1734-e1540407133403.jpg\")
Indiana senior Vini Lanza — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n
Ian Finnerty<\/strong>, last year\u2019s national champion in both breaststroke events and the only man ever under 50 in the 100 breast, returns. So does Vini<\/strong> Lanza<\/strong>, who finished third in the 100 and 200 fly in 2018 and sixth in the 200 IM. Also back is Mohamed Samy<\/strong>, fourth in the 200 free and a B-finalist in both backstroke events. Backstroker Gabriel Fantoni<\/strong> and freestyler Bruno Blaskovic<\/strong> both should improve after serving as key relay swimmers in their freshman seasons.<\/p>\n Indiana loses diver Michael<\/strong> Hixon<\/strong>, last year\u2019s 1-meter champion and the third-place finisher in the 3-meter event, but James Connor<\/strong> and Andrew Capobianco<\/strong> both return after each scoring in the top eight in multiple events last year.<\/p>\n Aside from Hixon, the Hoosiers lose just three key pieces from last year\u2019s team: Blake<\/strong> Pieroni<\/strong>, Levi Brock<\/strong> and Ali<\/strong> Khalafalla<\/strong>. Brock scored individual points in both breaststroke events, but Finnerty\u2019s presence lessens the impact of that loss. Khalafalla was an important relay depth piece?<\/p>\n Pieroni? He set an American record in the 200 free on a relay leadoff before finishing second in that individual event, fourth in the 100 free and providing the key 40.95 anchor leg on Indiana\u2019s national championship-winning 400 medley relay. That\u2019s the type of swimmer whose graduation could cripple a team\u2014without a ready-made replacement. Zach Apple while swimming for Auburn in 2018 — Photo Courtesy: Thomas Campbell\/Texas A&M Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n Last year, Apple finished third in the 200 free, fourth in the 50 free and ninth in the 100 free, winning the B-final with the third-fastest time of the meet, and he is again seeded among the top-ten swimmers in all three events for this year\u2019s meet. He now trains alongside Pieroni, fits the exact same profile as a swimmer as Pieroni and could fill his shoes to a T at this year\u2019s championships.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like he\u2019s been a part of the team the whole time. He\u2019s such a good guy and leader that he assimilated immediately,\u201d Looze said. \u201cLosing a guy like Blake Pieroni is in most cases an irreplaceable loss, but because of Zach, we haven\u2019t really felt it.\u201d<\/p>\n Apple arrived in Bloomington in May with only the summer to prepare for his senior season, and he immediately thrived while training alongside Pieroni, Samy and Lanza. He finished the 2018 long course season ranked first in the country in the 100 free (48.03) and sixth in the 200 free (1:46.56). His 200, in particular, was a huge jump from Apple\u2019s previous best time of 1:48.39, and he earned a finals spot on the U.S. men\u2019s 800 free relay at Pan Pacs.<\/p>\n Swimming aside, Apple arrived at Indiana in an awkward spot, as a new face but a senior with a strong record of success and even international experience.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the beginning, it was a little weird to come in and try to get into a leadership role while I was trying to get to know the team,\u201d Apple said. \u201cBut I think coming in this summer was really key for that, building the relationship with a lot of those guys so once we hit the college season I could really step into that role and try to help some of the younger guys achieve some pretty big things this year.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n One year ago, Apple never imagined that he would spend his last college season wearing Hoosier red and white candy stripes. Now, he\u2019s the key to Indiana remaining in the national title race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At each of the last four men\u2019s NCAA swimming championships, the Texas Longhorns have taken home the team title, and the California Golden Bears have finished second. Those two programs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":360251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6,17,61052],"tags":[73622,28734,42316,31607,54237,61349,41618,31,40455,52159,27486,54216,21869,59682,60856],"class_list":["post-360241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-college","category-commentary","category-morning-splash","tag-2019-ncaa-division-i-mens-swimming-and-diving-championships","tag-ali-khalafalla","tag-andrew-capobianco","tag-blake-pieroni","tag-bruno-blaskovic","tag-gabriel-fantoni","tag-ian-finnerty","tag-indiana","tag-james-connor","tag-levi-brock","tag-michael-hixon","tag-mohamed-samy","tag-ray-looze","tag-vini-lanza","tag-zach-apple"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
\nEnter Zach<\/strong> Apple<\/strong>, a senior transfer from Auburn. One year after Pieroni qualified for his first Olympic team as part of the U.S. men\u2019s 400 free relay, Apple made his international debut in the same event at the 2017 World Championships.<\/p>\n![\"zach-apple-auburn-50-free-celebrate-sec-championships\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/zach-apple-auburn-50-free-celebrate-sec-championships.jpg\")