No. 3 IU Swimming & Diving Ready for NCAA Championships

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The No. 3-ranked Indiana University men's swimming & diving team heads to Minneapolis, Minn. this week for the 2018 NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.

The four-day meet gets underway on Wednesday night in Minneapolis with the finals of the 800 freestyle relay at 7:00 p.m. ET. The next three days will feature prelims beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET, with finals following at 7:00 p.m. ET. Diving trials and consolation finals will begin following swimming prelims Thursday through Saturday.

Live results for swimming this week can be at IUHoosiers.com, while results for diving can be found at DiveMeets.com.

Streaming Schedule
All prelim sessions and finals on Wednesday and Thursday night will be streamed live for free on BTN2Go.com. Thursday and Friday night finals will be streamed live on WatchESPN.

Qualified Hoosiers
Indiana will send a total of 14 swimmers and divers to Minneapolis, Minn. this week for the NCAA Championships. Along with the individual events, the Hoosiers will also swim in all five relays.

IU has posted some of the best times in the nation this year, earning an impressive 12 top-16 marks in individual events, including 10 top-five times. Leading the way is Ian Finnerty, who will be the top-seed in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and the No. 16 seed in the 200 IM.

Vini Lanza earned the No. 1 seed in the 200 butterfly, the No. 2 seed in the 100 butterfly and the No. 4 seed in the 200 IM for the Hoosiers. Blake Pieroni will be the No. 2 seed in the 200 freestyle and the No. 4 seed in the 100 freestyle, while Levi Brock is the second-best qualifier in the 100 breast and the seventh-best in the 200 breast.

Freshman Gabriel Fantoni earned the No. 3 seed in the 100 backstroke, while Mohamed Samy is the No. 5 seed in the 200 freestyle and the No. 8 in the 200 backstroke. Freshman Bruno Blaskovic will be the No. 14 seed in the 100 free.

Below is the list of the Hoosier swimmers and divers at the 2018 NCAA Championships and the individual events in which they are eligible to participate.

Bruno Blaskovic – 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly
Levi Brock – 100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke
Andrew Capobianco – 1-Meter Dive, 3-Meter Dive, Platform Dive
James Connor – 1-Meter Dive, 3-Meter Dive
Gabriel Fantoni – 100 Backstroke, 200 Backstroke, 100 Butterfly
Ian Finnerty – 100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke, 200 IM
Michael Hixon – 1-Meter Dive, 3-Meter Dive
Ali Khalafalla – 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke
Vini Lanza – 100 Butterfly, 200 Butterfly, 200 IM
Blake Pieroni – 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle
Mohamed Samy – 100 Backstroke, 200 Backstroke, 200 Freestyle
Wilson Beckman – 400 Medley Relay
Nikola Miljenic – 200 Freestyle Relay
Josh Romany – 200 Freestyle Relay

NCAA Championships History
The six-time NCAA Champion Hoosiers have finished in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships in five of the last six seasons. For the second-straight season, Indiana finished as the top Big Ten team at the NCAA Championships in 2017 – the best stretch for IU since accomplishing the feat for 15-straight seasons from 1964-78.

At the 2017 NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers placed seventh overall with a total of 229.5 points. The finish is the best for Indiana at a NCAA Championships since also placing seventh in 1979. The 229.5 points are the most for IU since scoring 274 in 1975.

Over the course of the meet, the Hoosiers had 13 individuals earn a total of 32 All-America honors – the most in program history in 42 years since the team tallied 36 in 1975.

Hoosiers Repeat at Big Ten Champions
At the conference championships last month, the Hoosiers earned back-to-back Big Ten Championships for the first time since winning three-straight from 1983-85. The title is the 26^th in program history.

IU won the team title with a total score of 1,658 points. Michigan was second with 1,617.5 points, while Ohio State was third with 1,300.5 points.

For the week, IU won a total of 24 medals – 14 gold, seven silver and three bronze. Indiana also won four of the five relays at the Big Ten Championships for a second-straight year – a program first.

Vini Lanza was named Swimmer of the Championships for the second-straight year after setting a Big Ten record with seven gold medals over the course of week. The junior won gold in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 IM, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay and the 800 freestyle relay.

Michael Hixon was named Diver of the Championships for the second year in a row after winning the 1-meter dive on Thursday and winning silver in the 3-meter dive on Friday.

Joining Lanza and Hixon on the All-Big Ten First-Team were Bruno Blaskovic, Gabriel Fantoni, Ian Finnerty, Ali Khalafalla, Mohamed Samy and Blake Pieroni. Earning Second-Team All-Big Ten honors were Levi Brock, James Connor and Nikola Miljenic.

Indiana had one of the best meets in school history, as the Hoosiers totaled 11 school record swims, seven Big Ten record swims, nine Big Ten Meet record swims, nine pool record swims, 18 NCAA A cuts, 97 NCAA B cuts, 29 NCAA Zones qualifying scores and 88 personal-best marks.

Be sure to keep up with all the latest news on the Indiana men's and women's swimming and diving teams on social media – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

#GoIU

Indiana University Athletics

No. 3 IU Swimming & Diving Ready for NCAA Championships

Players Mentioned

Wilson Beckman

Bruno Blaskovic

Levi Brock

Andrew Capobianco

James Connor

Gabriel Fantoni

Ian Finnerty

Michael Hixon

Ali Khalafalla

Vini Lanza

Nikola Miljenic

Blake Pieroni

Josh Romany

Mohamed Samy

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