Indiana University Athletics
No. 13 Indiana Travels to Big Ten Championships
2/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 17, 2009
IU Meet Notes- 2009 Big Ten Championships 
NO. 13 INDIANA at BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Feb. 18-21
Canham Natatorium
Ann Arbor, Mich.
2008 Finish: 3rd (513 points)
Teams: No. 10 Minnesota, No. 13 Indiana, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 15 Penn State, No. 23 Northwestern, No. 25 Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Day One Finals: 6:30 p.m. »
200-yard Medley Relay
800-yard Freestyle Relay
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Day Two Trials: 11 a.m.
1. 500-yard Freestyle
2. 200-yard Individual Medley
3. 50-yard Freestyle
Approx. 1 pm:
6. One-Meter Diving (Preliminaries and Consolation Finals)
Day Two Finals: 6:30 p.m.
1. 200-yard Freestyle Relay
2. 500-yard Freestyle
3. 200-yard Individual Medley
4. 50-yard Freestyle
5. One-Meter Diving
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Day Three Trials: 11 a.m.
1. 400-yard Individual Medley
2. 100-yard Butterfly
3. 200-yard Freestyle
4. 100-yard Breaststroke
5. 100-yard Backstroke
Approx. 1 pm:
6. Three-Meter Diving (Preliminaries and Consolation Finals)
Day Three Finals: 6:30 p.m.
1. 400-yard Medley Relay
2. 400-yard Individual Medley
3. 100-yard Butterfly
4. 200-yard Freestyle
5. 100-yard Breaststroke
6. 100-yard Backstroke
7. Three-Meter Diving
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Day Four Trials: 11 a.m.
1. 200-yard Backstroke
2. 100-yard Freestyle
3. 200-yard Breaststroke
4. 200-yard Butterfly
Approx. 1 pm:
5. Platform Diving (Preliminaries and Consolation Finals)
(approx. 4:15; all but last heat)
6. 1,650-yard Freestyle
Day Four Finals: 6:30 p.m.
1. 1,650-yard Freestyle (Last heat of timed finals)
2. 200-yard Backstroke
3. 100-yard Freestyle
4. 200-yard Breaststroke
5. 200-yard Butterfly
6. Platform Diving
7. 400-yard Freestyle Relay
SETTING THE SCENE
• The Hoosiers are in the hunt for their fourth Big Ten Championship as they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to take on the conference field.
• Indiana finished third at last year's meet with Big Ten titles in 1-meter diving (Brittney Feldman), 200 medley relay, 100 backstroke (Kate Zubkova), 3-meter diving (Brittney Feldman), and the 200 backstroke (Kate Zubkova).
• Indiana won Big Ten titles in 1981, 2003 and 2007.
NEWS AND NOTES
• IU finished 6-1 in dual meets this season. Its only loss came at the hands of No. 3 Texas, 211-178 in November.
• The Hoosiers closed out the regular season on Jan. 24 with a 210-159 dual meet win over in-state rival Purdue.
• Indiana won every event in the meet.
• Cassie Luhrsen won the 1000 free in a season best time of 10:04.31. Brittany Strumbel was second in 10:05.56, also a season best. Ashley Kranz cut more than 15 seconds off her season best with a time of 10:25.77 to finish fifth.
• Kate Zubkova kept her unbeaten streak in the 100 backstroke in tact with a time of 54.22.
• Competing in her final collegiate event at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center, senior Christina Loukas won the three-meter springboard competition by more than 70 points with a score of 381.15. Brittney Feldman was second with a 310.28-point total, followed by Christina Kouklakis in fourth (294.38). Feldman and Gabby Agostino tied for third on the platform with a total of 235.05. Amy Korthauer was fifth (227.18), with Kouklakis sixth (217.20) and Nicole Brehm seventh (194.70).
LOUKAS NAMED TO 2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM
• Indiana University senior Christina Loukas was named to the USA Diving 2009 World Championship team, the organization announced. Loukas was selected to compete on the one-meter and three-meter springboard following a four-day selection camp held last week in Columbus, Ohio.
• The 2009 FINA World Championships will take place July 18-25 in Rome, Italy.
• Loukas was one of six 2008 Olympians selected to the World Championship team. Loukas and fellow Olympians Ariel Rittenhouse will represent the USA on the three-meter springboard, while Brittany Viola will join Loukas in the one-meter competition.
• The athletes went through a grueling four-day selection camp last week to show their readiness for competition. Loukas performed her three-meter list four times in one day, finishing first once, second twice and third once. She also performed her one-meter list three times, finishing second twice and third once.
• The World Championships team members will be required to demonstrate competitive readiness at the 2009 AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., May 7-9. Synchronized teams for the World Championships will be chosen at a selection camp in Ft. Lauderdale following the Grand Prix.
2008 INDIANA BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS RECAP
• Indiana brought home five titles en route to a third-place finish (513 points) at the 2008 Big Ten Championships held at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.
• Kate Zubkova became the first IU swimmer to pick up two individual titles in a single meet since Susan Woessner in 2002. As it happens, both swimmers won their titles in the 100 and 200 backstrokes.
• Zubkova set a new school and Big Ten record in the 100 back with a time of 51.68, more than a second better than the old mark of 52.85 set by Leila Vaziri in 2007. Presley Bard made it a 1-2 IU finish, clocking in at 53.64.
• The 200-yard individual medley relay team of Zubkova, Sarah Stockwell, Donna Smailis and Presley Bard set a then-Big Ten and school record with a winning time of 1:38.89, topping the old mark of 1:39.60 set at the 2007 Big Ten meet. They would go on to break that mark yet again at the NCAA Championships.
• Smailis set a new school mark of 1:59.69 in the prelims of the 200 individual medley and went on to finish fifth in the finals. Amanda Smith finished second in the 500 freestyle at her first Big Ten Championships with a school-record mark of 4:43.33.
• Zubkova set a new school record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.88, coming in second. Smailis also bettered the old mark with a time of 54.00 in the prelims and went on to finish fifth in the final with a time of 53.69. Allison Kay competed in the 400-yard individual medley championship final where she placed seventh with a season best of 4:16.37.
• Stockwell broke her own school record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.55 to take second. Abby Cooper was seventh with a lifetime best of 1:03.00, while Amilee Smith won the bonus final and finished 17th overall (1:04.30). The 800-yard relay team Smailis, Smith, Bard and Kay raced to a second-place finish in a time of 7:13.39, the second-fastest time in school history.
• Zubkova continued to re-write the league record book, this time taking the 200-yard backstroke title in a meet and school record of 1:53.62. Zubkova's time was two seconds better than second-place finisher Daphne Skelos of Penn State and broke the 13-year-old Big Ten meet record of 1:54.65 set by Alecia Humphrey. She would go on to better that mark by nearly half a second at the NCAA meet. Zubkova finished tied for first in overall points scored with 57.
• Bard finished 12th overall with a time of 1:59.56 in the consolation final. Freshman Amy Harriman represented IU in the bonus final where she finished third (19th overall) with a time of 2:00.74.
• Smailis led the Hoosiers in the 100-yard freestyle with a fifth-place time of 49.98, almost two seconds faster than her previous career best. Brittany Epperson also swam in the championship final where she finished eighth (50.68). In timed heats of the 1,650-yard freestyle, Amanda Smith was fifth in the final heat with a time of 16:22.66. Coming in sixth was Cassie Luhrsen in 16:30.36. Christie Fuchs finished 18th (16:52.91).
• Stockwell finished fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:15.04, while Cooper won the consolation final and finished ninth overall with a time of 2:15.84, a career best. Amilee Smith and Jessica Hill also swam in the consolation final with Smith 13th (2:17.24) and Hill 16th (2:20.49). Fuchs swam a time of 1:58.93 in the morning prelims of the 200-yard butterfly and went on to finish eighth in the championship final with a time of 2:00.39. Kay took 15th overall with her mark of 2:03.16 in the consolation final.
• On the diving end of things it was all Brittney Feldman as the sophomore captured both the one-meter and three-meter springboard titles. For her efforts she was named Big Ten Diver of the Year and Big Ten Diver of the Championship. It marked the fourth-straight season that a Hoosier has taken home those awards.
• Jade Summerlin finished fifth in platform diving in her final Big Ten meet, tallying 267.5 points. Amy Korthauer finished first in the consolation final with 262.40 points, followed by Christina Kouklakis (5th- 198.10), Feldman (6th- 194.50) and Heidi Mahnken (7th- 179.30).
HOOSIERS IN THE POLLS
• Indiana remains No. 13 in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America Dual Meet Rankings, released Feb. 16.
• Indiana was No. 8 in the preseason poll, ninth in the poll released on Oct. 31, 10th in the Nov. 14 poll, 11th in the Dec. 12 poll and 13th in the Jan. 16.
• Minnesota leads the Big Ten at No. 10, followed by the Hoosiers, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 15 Penn State, No. 23 Northwestern and No. 25 Michigan.
DID YOU KNOW?
• Junior Kate Zubkova has never lost a 100 or 200 backstroke race in Big Ten dual meet competition.
Players Mentioned
