Indiana University Athletics
Men's Swim & Dive Looks to Build Off Great B1G Championships
3/1/2016 10:39:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
By: Tori Ziege | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Fourteenth-year men's head coach Ray Looze has seen a lot of Big Ten Championships.
But of all the Indiana teams — including the 2005-06 championship team — he said this year's second-place squad is the best performing he's seen at a conference meet.
"They're the best team we've had that didn't win a title," he said.
No. 8 Indiana took home 17 medals, including three gold-medal winning relays for the first time in Looze's tenure. The spree began with the 400 medley relay during Thursday night's championships and parlayed into Friday and Saturday, when the 200 and 400 freestyle relays took home titles.
The remainder of Indiana's gold was captured by sophomore Blake Pieroni in the 100 and 200 freestyle and freshman Ian Finnerty in the 100 breaststroke, earning him the honor of Big Ten Rookie of the Year.
Finnerty's achievement makes it back-to-back for Indiana, as Pieroni was named conference co-freshman of the year in 2015. Looze said the accolade could have easily gone to Finnerty or Indiana freshman multi-swimmer Vini Lanza, who finished an 18th of a second shy of first to earn silver in the 100 butterfly and bronze in the 200 butterfly, both school records.
"A freshman woman can be as physically developed as a senior woman, but that's not nearly true in men," Looze said. "The 18-year-old is still a bit of a boy. They still look like that, but they don't swim like. They swam like men."
Finnerty's gold medal time of 51.75 hasn't quite satisfied his goal of 51.5 seconds and a school record, set by Olympic hopeful Cody Miller in 2013. But winning the conference gets him one step closer to his goal performance at NCAAs and allows him to check off one item that's been on his list since before he set foot in Bloomington.
"It was actually one of my main goals as a freshman to win the 100 breaststroke," he said. "Before I even got on campus, I talked to Ray about that being one of the biggest goals I had for the season."
In addition to the Hoosiers dominance in the breaststroke, where they placed eight finalists, these Big Ten Championships were resurgent for Indiana in the freestyle sprints.
The trio of Pieroni, junior Anze Tavcar and sophomore Ali Khalafalla combined for a sweep in the 100 freestyle, with Pieroni's gold the first for Indiana in the event since 1996. Looze said there was a time not too long ago when no Hoosiers where competitive in the event, let alone three.
He largely credits Indiana associate head coach and former Minnesota coach Dennis Dale for the Hoosiers' rapid improvement.
"To go one, two, three in the 100 free, nobody does that," Looze said. "University of Minnesota used to dominate the sprints. What they used to have, we now have."
One of the most memorable moments at Big Tens came outside the pool, where Khalafalla stood on the blocks before the 50 freestyle finals. Moments ahead of racing to a silver medal finish, the school record-holder was listening to music on his Beats headphones — much to the bewilderment to his teammates and Looze.
As the swimmers took their marks, Khalafalla eschewed his iPhone and his headphones by throwing them to the ground.
"LeBron James wouldn't even do that!" Looze said. "He'd set his Beats down and his iPhone, he wouldn't toss it to the ground. But that's how locked in he was. It was really contagious."
Indiana's success abated the pressures of Big Ten competition and allowed Looze and his team to have as much fun as he can recall having at a conference meet. Everyone was involved in cheering for the Hoosiers, from trainers to parents to the women's swimmers and divers, many of whom showed up at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center to cheer on their male counterparts.
Even the team's managers, who are in charge of filming all of Indiana's races, got involved.
In the videos from this weekend, Looze said he could hear their uncontainable whoops and hollers cheering on the Hoosiers as they raced up and down the pool.
"They were just little moments like that that meant a lot to me," Looze said.
"It made Purdue feel like home."
IUHoosiers.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Fourteenth-year men's head coach Ray Looze has seen a lot of Big Ten Championships.
But of all the Indiana teams — including the 2005-06 championship team — he said this year's second-place squad is the best performing he's seen at a conference meet.
"They're the best team we've had that didn't win a title," he said.
No. 8 Indiana took home 17 medals, including three gold-medal winning relays for the first time in Looze's tenure. The spree began with the 400 medley relay during Thursday night's championships and parlayed into Friday and Saturday, when the 200 and 400 freestyle relays took home titles.
The remainder of Indiana's gold was captured by sophomore Blake Pieroni in the 100 and 200 freestyle and freshman Ian Finnerty in the 100 breaststroke, earning him the honor of Big Ten Rookie of the Year.
Finnerty's achievement makes it back-to-back for Indiana, as Pieroni was named conference co-freshman of the year in 2015. Looze said the accolade could have easily gone to Finnerty or Indiana freshman multi-swimmer Vini Lanza, who finished an 18th of a second shy of first to earn silver in the 100 butterfly and bronze in the 200 butterfly, both school records.
"A freshman woman can be as physically developed as a senior woman, but that's not nearly true in men," Looze said. "The 18-year-old is still a bit of a boy. They still look like that, but they don't swim like. They swam like men."
Finnerty's gold medal time of 51.75 hasn't quite satisfied his goal of 51.5 seconds and a school record, set by Olympic hopeful Cody Miller in 2013. But winning the conference gets him one step closer to his goal performance at NCAAs and allows him to check off one item that's been on his list since before he set foot in Bloomington.
"It was actually one of my main goals as a freshman to win the 100 breaststroke," he said. "Before I even got on campus, I talked to Ray about that being one of the biggest goals I had for the season."
In addition to the Hoosiers dominance in the breaststroke, where they placed eight finalists, these Big Ten Championships were resurgent for Indiana in the freestyle sprints.
The trio of Pieroni, junior Anze Tavcar and sophomore Ali Khalafalla combined for a sweep in the 100 freestyle, with Pieroni's gold the first for Indiana in the event since 1996. Looze said there was a time not too long ago when no Hoosiers where competitive in the event, let alone three.
He largely credits Indiana associate head coach and former Minnesota coach Dennis Dale for the Hoosiers' rapid improvement.
"To go one, two, three in the 100 free, nobody does that," Looze said. "University of Minnesota used to dominate the sprints. What they used to have, we now have."
One of the most memorable moments at Big Tens came outside the pool, where Khalafalla stood on the blocks before the 50 freestyle finals. Moments ahead of racing to a silver medal finish, the school record-holder was listening to music on his Beats headphones — much to the bewilderment to his teammates and Looze.
As the swimmers took their marks, Khalafalla eschewed his iPhone and his headphones by throwing them to the ground.
"LeBron James wouldn't even do that!" Looze said. "He'd set his Beats down and his iPhone, he wouldn't toss it to the ground. But that's how locked in he was. It was really contagious."
Indiana's success abated the pressures of Big Ten competition and allowed Looze and his team to have as much fun as he can recall having at a conference meet. Everyone was involved in cheering for the Hoosiers, from trainers to parents to the women's swimmers and divers, many of whom showed up at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center to cheer on their male counterparts.
Even the team's managers, who are in charge of filming all of Indiana's races, got involved.
In the videos from this weekend, Looze said he could hear their uncontainable whoops and hollers cheering on the Hoosiers as they raced up and down the pool.
"They were just little moments like that that meant a lot to me," Looze said.
"It made Purdue feel like home."
Players Mentioned
Multi
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
Free/Back
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
Multi
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming and DivingFB: Nico Radicic - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Drew Evans - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Bray Lynch - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Spring Practice - Curt Cignetti Press Conference
Thursday, April 16