Indiana University
Auburn
Indiana Battles Defending National Champion Auburn in 174-126 Loss
10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Oct. 15, 2005
AUBURN, Ala. - The Indiana men's swimming and diving squad gave the defending national champion Auburn Tigers all they could handle, but came up just short in a 174-126 dogfight in Auburn, Ala. Overall, the Tigers claimed 11 titles, while Indiana came up with five.
"I was really proud of the guys," Indiana head coach Ray Looze said. "We definitely showed up and raced the national champions toe-to-toe. We lost some close races, but with this process of racing tougher opponents, that is going to happen. We are going to start winning these close races soon. I am very proud of our times. We have a chance to be a really good team. We just need to work on our fundamentals."
Senior Sergiy Fesenko dominated the distance events by winning both the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle events.
"I expect him to do that," Looze said. "He is one of the best distance freestylers in the world. I have confidence in him."
Meanwhile, sophomore Ben Hesen added a pair of titles in the 100-yard backstroke and butterfly events, while junior Colin Russell won the 100-yard freestyle for IU.
Hesen's time of 48.52 in the 100-yard backstroke not only eclipsed the provisional threshold, it now stands as the sixth-fastest effort in IU history.
On the diving side of the equation, IU earned seven top-five finishes, but could not knock off Auburn junior Steven Segerlin in front of his home crowd. The Tigers swept both the one-meter and three-meter events. Meanwhile, junior Brian Mariano, senior Ryan Fagan and senior Jesse Rappaport placed two-four in the one-meter, while Fagan, sophomore Taylor Roberts, Mariano and Rappaport took two-five in the three-meter.
"I was pretty pleased," Indiana head diving coach Dr. Jeff Huber said. "We just have not done a lot of dives in practice. For this morning's practice, I saw some dives I haven't seen all semester. We were not exactly prepared for this meet. We are working on the skills to be successful for the end of the season."
Next up, the Hoosiers head to Minneapolis, Minn., to tangle with Minnesota on Oct. 29.
Players Mentioned
