Men's Swim and Dive Off to B1G Meet

2/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Feb. 23, 2015

 
 Site: UI Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium (Iowa City, Iowa)
 Live Results: Big Ten Championships Live Results
 Championships Information Page: Championship Information
 IU Meet Notes: 2015 Big Ten Championships Meet Notes 

SETTING THE SCENE
 Indiana travels to Iowa City, Iowa for the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Feb. 25-28 at UI Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
 Last year Indiana finished second at the Big Ten meet with 564 points. Michigan is the defending champion.
 The meet begins on Wednesday, Feb. 25 with one session beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.
 Thursday, Feb. 26-Saturday, February 28, the morning session will begin at 12 p.m. ET, and the evening final session at 7:30 p.m. ET.
 Live results will be available at livestats.hawkeyesports.com.There will also be a live stream for all sessions Wednesday-Saturday via BTN2Go and Hawkeye All-Access.
 For all championship information, visit Hawkeyesports.com

NEWS AND NOTES
 The Hoosiers are looking for their 13th-straight top-five finish at the Big Ten meet and are aiming for a third-straight top-2 finish.
 The Hoosiers have won 24 team titles with the last coming in 2006.
 It is someone of a fresh start for Indiana as the Hoosiers graduated Big Ten champions Cody Miller, Eric Ress, Conor Murphy and Darian Schmidt.
 Steve Schmuhl finished third in the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 butterfly at last year's championships.
 Max Irwin was eighth in the 100 butterfly, with Mike Hurley seventh in the 200 breaststroke.
 Sophomore Josh Arndt placed seventh on the 1-meter springboard and third on the 3-meter springboard last year.
 Sophomore Michael Hixon comes to the Big Ten meet after winning the 1-meter and 3-meter at the 2014 Big XII championships while a member of the University of Texas squad.

TOP TIMES
 Here is where the top Hoosiers rank in the Big Ten heading into the championships:
50 Free: Anze Tavcar - 6th (19.95)
100 Free: Anze Tavcar - 1st (43.03)
200 Free: Blake Pieroni - 2nd (1:34.55)
500 Free: Jackson Miller - 4th (4:19.48)
1,650 Free: Jackson Miller - 7th (15:11.14)
100 Back: Bob Glover - 11th (47.93)
200 Back: Bob Glover - 9th (1:45.56)
100 Breast - Tanner Kurz - 5th (53.38)
200 Breast - Tanner Kurz - 8th (1:57.29)
100 Butterfly - Max Irwin - 9th (47.69)
200 Butterfly - Max Irwin - 10th (1:46.58)
200 IM - Blake Pieroni - 10th (1:48.36)
400 IM - Steve Schmuhl - 8th (3:51.74)
200 FR - Tavcar, Pieroni, Khalafalla, Irwin - 4th (1:20.14)
400 FR - Tavcar, Pieroni, Khalafalla, Irwin - 4th (2:55.62)
800 FR - Pieroni, Miller, Tavcar, Irwin - 3rd (6:24.90)
200 MR - Glover, Kurz, Irwin, Khalafalla - 7th (1:28.78)
400 MR - Glover, Kurz, Irwin, Tavcar - 5th (3:13.11)

CSCAA NATIONAL RANKINGS
 The Indiana men come in at No. 15 in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America national rankings released on Feb.5.
 The Hoosiers are one of six teams in the Big Ten ranked in the top 25, joined by No. 6 Michigan, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 18 Minnesota, No. 21 Iowa, and No. 23 Wisconsin.

SEASON AT A GLANCE
 The Hoosiers finished the dual meet season at 6-4, with the four losses coming against No. 2 Texas, No. 6 Michigan, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 11 Louisville. Indiana has wins over No. 5 Auburn, No. 13 Tennessee, and No. 23 Wisconsin.

USA SWIMMING JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM
 A pair of Hoosiers are currently members of the 2014-15 USA Swimming Junior National Team.
 Freshman Blake Pieroni is on the team in the 200 freestyle, while freshman Cody Taylor is a member in the 200 breaststroke.
 Pieroni currently holds the IU record in the 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle. He earned silver medals in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships and also took gold as a member of the 800 freestyle relay.
 Pieroni is the 2014 USA Swimming 18-and-under national champion in the 100 freestyle and took bronze in the 400 medley relay at 2014 Speedo Junior Nationals. He took gold in the 800 freestyle relay with a meet and 15-18 and 17-8 age group record time of 7:28.28.
 Pieroni also took gold in the 400 free relay with a meet record time of 3:24.62. Across the 2014 Junior and Senior nationals set Indiana state 17-18 age group records in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle.
 Taylor is the USA Swimming 18-and-under National Champion in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:12.73). He earned the award by finishing first in the B final at the Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships.
 Taylor also placed seventh in the 100 breaststroke at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

WELCOME TO IU
 The storied Indiana diving program got a lift when sophomore Michael Hixon joined the team this summer.
 Hixon is the reigning NCAA Champion on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards after capturing the titles his freshman year at Texas.
 Since coming to IU, Hixon placed second in the 1-meter springboard competition at the USA Diving Winter Nationals, earning a spot on the 2015 World Championships team.
 Hixon has already made his mark on the record book, setting a new IU record on the 1-meter springboard with a score of 444.20.
 His season-best score of 433.65 on the 3-meter ranks fifth all time.

BIG TEN HONORS
 Indiana picked up 10 Big Ten weekly honors this season, led by sophomore diver Michael Hixon's four Big Ten Diver of the Week accolades.
 Hixon was named Diver of the Week on Oct. 28, Nov. 4, Dec. 23 and Jan. 20.
 Sophomore Anze Tavcar was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 14 and Nov. 4.
 Freshman James Connor picked up the Big Ten Diver of the Week honor on Oct. 14.
 Ali Khalafalla was the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Oct. 14, with Blake Pieroni the Freshman of the Week on Dec. 9 and Jan. 20.

2014 BIG TEN RECAP
 The Hoosier men finished second at the 2014 Big Ten Championships with 564 points.
 Indiana was led by diver Darian Schmidt who won the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions, earning Big Ten Diver of the Championships honors for the third-straight year.
 Schmidt scored 381.30 on the 1-meter, and used his high degree of difficulty to come away with a score of 451.90 on the 3-meter.
 Cody Miller, Eric Ress and Conor Murphy also took home individual titles.
 Miller won his fourth-straight 200 breaststroke title, becoming just the second swimmer in Big Ten history to win four-straight titles in the 200 breast (Mike Barrowman-Michigan).
 Miller went 1:52.58, which is the second-fastest time in IU history. He set the Big Ten record of 1:51.03 at the 2013 meet.
 Miller also swam on the 200 medley relay that took fourth (1:25.49-third-fastest time in IU history), the 400 medley relay that was third (3:07.98-school record), 200 freestyle relay (1:19.65-fifth) and the 400 freestyle relay that finished sixth (2:54.07-school record).
 Miller was second in the 100 breaststroke, clocking a 51.99 which is the third-fastest time in IU history. His prelims time of 52.23 ranks fourth.
 Ress won his first-ever Big Ten title in the 200 backstroke in record-setting fashion, posting a time of 1:38.89 which is a school and Big Ten meet record.
 That is the fastest time this season entering the NCAA Championships.
 Ress was also on the 200 freestyle, 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays, as well as the 800 free relay that took fourth in a time of 6:20.17-the second-fastest time in IU history.
 Ress' leadoff leg of 1:35.29 is the third-fastest 200 free in IU history.
 His leadoff 100 back of 45.25 in the 400 medley relay is the fourth-fastest time in IU history.
 Ress took third in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in 46.14, while James Wells was fourth (46.21).
 Senior Conor Murphy snagged his second Big Ten title, winning the platform with a score of 434.85.
 A platform specialist, Murphy also scored points for the Hoosiers by finishing 11th on the 1-meterand seventh on the 3-meter (381.95).
 Junior Steve Schmuhl was third in the 200 IM, posting the third-fastest time in IU history with a 1:42.05.
 Schmuhl also placed third in the 400 IM, going 3:43.55, and third in the 200 butterfly with a school-record time of 1:43.33. He went 1:43.55 in prelims for the third-fastest time in IU history,
 Freshman diver Joshua Arndt made a pair of championship finals, taking seventh on the 1-meter (335.15), posting a career best score of 340.80 in prelims.
 On the three meter he took third with another carer score of 423.15.

BIG TEN POWER
 Head Coach Ray Looze has directed the Hoosiers to 10 top-four Big Ten finishes in 12 years at the helm of the Indiana program.
 Indiana finished third in 2003, fourth in 2004, second in 2005, first in 2006, fourth in 2007, second in 2008, second in 2011, third in 2012 and second in 2013 and 2014.

NCAA HISTORY
 The Hoosiers have a storied history at the NCAA meet, winning the team title for six-straight seasons from 1968-1973.
 During that time Indiana took home 39 individual and relay titles, including eight NCAA titles for Mark Spitz and eight for Gary Hall.
 Spitz was the NCAA 100 butterfly champion all four seasons at IU (1969-72), and won the 100 fly, 500 free and 200 free at the 1969 meet.
 Hall was a three-time champion in 1971 (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 backstroke) and a two-time champion (200 IM, 400 IM in 1972).
 Overall Hoosiers have won 80 individual and relay NCAA titles, most recently with Ben Hesen winning the 100 backstroke crown in 2008.