Indiana University Athletics
IU Falls to Texas, 170-130
10/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
October 8, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana swimming and diving squad battled the perennial powerhouse Texas Longhorns in both teams' opening dual meet of the season. Unfortunately, the Hoosiers came up just short in a few key events and fell to UT, 170-130. Overall, the Longhorns claimed 11 of the 16 event titles, while Indiana's divers swept the top-three spots in both the one-meter and three-meter events to post six zone qualifying marks.
"We lost about 98 percent of the close races," Head Coach Ray Looze said. "You cannot win a dual meet against a team like Texas that has the experience and tradition that it has when you do not win the close races. This meet will benefit us down the road. I think we force-fed the team as much experience as you can in one dual meet. The team now has a better idea of what it takes to compete at this level. We have a lot of work to do. Now we know where we stand and know what to correct."
In the opening event of the afternoon, Texas jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the meet when Andrew Davidson, Matt Molnar, Daniel Di'Toro and Tyler O'Halloran finished the 200-yard medley relay in 1:30.57 to claim first place, while IU's quartet of freshman Todd Patrick, junior Kevin Swander, junior Thomas Clavier and sophomore Colin Russell took second with a 1:31.08. UT's secured the third, and final scoring spot, in 1:31.84 with the squad of Danial Rohleder, Christian Schurr, David Kahn and Austin McNally.
In the initial individual event of the contest, freshman John Kevin Koehler clocked a 9:26.04 in the 1,000-yard freestyle to capture the individual title as well as IU's 10th-fastest time in the event. Senior Richard Bryant earned the runner-up spot with a time of 9:30.64, while Texas took third and fourth with Caleb McDermott (9:37.37) and Blake Copple (9:40.22). Sophomore Ryan McNeill claimed the last point for IU with a 9:40.22 for fifth place. After the event, Indiana and Texas were in a dead-heat at 18 points apiece.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Texas re-took a 32-23 lead on the strength of freshman Matthew McGinnis' NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:38.25 to take first place. Russell took second for the Hoosiers with a 1:40.52 time, while sophomore Lee Houchin finished in fifth with a 1:42.48 to round out IU scoring in the event. The Longhorns finished third and fourth with Garrett Weber-Gale (1:41.58) and Christopher Seitz (1:41.83).
Texas stretched its lead to 45-29 with the top two spots in the 100-yard backstroke. Andrew Davidson finished in first with a 49.98, while Rohleder took second with a 50.07. IU freshman Ben Hesen posted the ninth-fastest time in school history in the event with a third-place 50.12, while Patrick took fourth with a 50.53 clocking and Mike Jones ended up in fifth with a 51.59.
Indiana cut into Texas' lead, 53-40, in the 100-yard breaststroke as Swander nearly recorded IU's 10th-best clocking in program history in the event with a 56.07 to beat everyone to the wall. Texas took second and third with Schurr in second at 56.32 and Lowe in third with a 56.69. Clavier claimed IU two points with a fourth-place 56.95, while Molnar took fifth for Texas with a 57.75.
In the 200-yard butterfly, the Longhorns pushed their lead to 66-46 when Nathan O'Brien took the crown with a 1:49.68, while IU's Murph Halasz, finished in second with a 1:50.49. Texas finished in third and fifth when Ranier Kendrick took third with a 1:52.49 and Wade Kelley ended up in fifth with a 1:53.24. Indiana freshman Nick Walkotten concluded IU's scoring in the event with a fourth-place 1:53.20.
Going into the first diving break, Texas moved its lead to 78-53, in the 50-yard freestyle. UT's O'Halloran out-swam IU's Russell to the wall in 20.75, while the Hoosier touched in 20.92. In third place, Di'Toro claimed three points for Texas with a 21.01, while IU seized the last three points in the event with sophomore Kyle Ruth in fourth with a 21.10 and Houchin in fifth with a 21.29.
Head Diving Coach Dr. Jeff Huber's diving contingent took care of business on the one-meter springboard by sweeping the top-three spots. Senior Marc Carlton took first with a 315.60, while junior Ryan Fagan ended up in second with a 311.77. Freshman Taylor Roberts finished in third with a 306.90. Additionally, junior Brian Metzler posted a career-high 281.77 in the event. Texas sophomore Matt Bisordi took sixth with a 270.07, while freshman Brian Smith wound up in seventh with a 258.37. At the end of the diving break, Texas led Indiana, 81-69. Additionally, Carlton, Fagan and Roberts all posted zone qualifying marks in the event.
Coming out of the diving break, UT's O'Halloran claimed the 100-yard freestyle in 45.71. IU's Patrick took second in a time of 45.73, while Texas took third and fourth with Weber-Gale's 45.88 and Seitz's 46.10. Houchin wound up in fifth with a career-best 46.17. After the event, Texas extended its lead to 95-74.
In the 200-yard backstroke, UT moved its lead to 110-78, when O'Brien won the event in 1:50.15. Texas' McDermott finished in second with a 1:50.77, while IU's Jones finished in third in 1:51.36. UT's John Patterson earned fourth place with a clocking of 1:53.28, while Hesen took fifth in 1:53.55.
Texas pushed its lead to 122-85 when Schurr captured the individual crown in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:04.01. Swander garnered the runner-up spot just behind Schurr with a 2:04.04, while UT's Lowe came in third with a time of 2:05.80. IU sophomore Hank Baldwin finished in fourth with a 2:08.51, while senior Niles Madison placed in fifth with a 2:09.54.
In the 500-yard freestyle, the Longhorns extended their lead to 134-92 with McGinnis' title-winning time of 4:31.58. Bryant placed second for IU with a 4:35.06, while Koehler took third with a 4:38.11. Texas took the final two scoring spots with Aram Kevorkian in fourth at 4:39.89 and sophomore Copple in fifth in a time of 4:42.63.
Di'Toro claimed the 100-yard butterfly title with a 49.12, while IU's Clavier posted a 49.61 for second place. In third, UT's Rohleder registered a 49.64, while Halasz took fourth with a 50.65. Hesen closed out scoring in the fly with a 50.99 for fifth place. After the completion of individual swimming events, Texas led the meet by a 146-99 margin heading into the second diving break.
The Cream and Crimson divers closed out another complete sweep on the three-meter springboard to cut the gap to 157-126 as Carlton notched his second title with a 333.07, while Roberts took second with a 324.82 and Fagan came in third with a 310.95. Texas' Bisordi and Smith took fifth and sixth with a 301.20 and 270.30, respectively. Carlton, Roberts and Fagan all posted Zone Qualifying marks in the three-meter.
"I am a bit surprised with how well we dove today," Huber said. "We can still get a lot better, but we did not dive as badly as we normally do in an opening meet. We have a lot of respect for Texas and we tried to get up for this meet. We trained for it instead of through the meet. Alex Burns showed a lot of character with his dives and Metzler demonstrated a lot of improvement."
Coming out of the final diving break, Indiana's Patrick earned IU's fifth event title of the event with a 1:51.36 in the 200-yard individual medley. Texas claimed second and third with David Kahn clocking a 1:54.16 and Kelley posting a 1:54.99. Jones took fourth for IU with a 1:55.38, while Kendrick closed out the event in fifth for UT in 1:55.89. The effort pushed Texas' lead to 165-137.
Texas completed its 170-130 triumph over the Hoosiers in the 400-yard freestyle relay when McGinnis, O'Halloran, McDermott and Weber-Gale won the event in 3:03.03. Russell, Swander, Clavier and Houchin finished in second for Indiana with a 3:04.38, while UT's Seitz, McNally, Di'Toro and Rohleder took third with a 3:04.59.
Next up, the Cream and Crimson play host to Evansville in a co-ed match-up in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on Friday, Oct. 15 at 3 p.m.
Players Mentioned
