No. 4 Indiana Manages Momentous Finish to Day Two

Thursday, February 24

West Lafayette, Ind.

Indiana University

Big Ten Championships - Finals

No. 4 Indiana Manages Momentous Finish to Day Two

2/24/2022 9:35:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – No. 4 Indiana sits second halfway through the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, and the Hoosiers will carry plenty of momentum into the third day of competition after a fantastic finish to Thursday (Feb. 24) evening's session inside Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center.

Indiana ended the night with its seventh straight Big Ten 400 Medley Relay title. Indiana's anchor, Rafael Miroslaw, one of two IU freshman in the relay, out-touched Ohio State's Sem Andreis, ending the race in 3:00.95 to set a meet record and the fastest 400 medley time in the country this season.

Just before that, Indiana senior Andrew Capobianco and freshman Quinn Henninger finished first and second, respectively, in the 1-meter dive. Capobianco's second straight Big Ten title also came as IU's eighth in 10 years. Hoosiers placed first and second at the Big Ten meet for the second consecutive season as well.

"The session kind of started out rough, and we really had our backs against the wall tonight," IU head swimming coach Ray Looze said. "We really needed a big jolt, and the divers locked us back in going [first and second]. And then winning the relay, I felt like we had to do that, or the meet was going to get away."

"It was a great day for Hoosier diving today," IU head diving coach Drew Johansen said. "Andrew and Quinn were spectacular in the final. It was one of the best 1-meter finals I have seen in all my years. Carson [Tyler] and Lenin [Hibler], in the B final were great points for the team as well, and we're looking forward to tomorrow."

Indiana fell to second in the team standings on Thursday and sit 39.5 points behind Ohio State on the Big Ten leaderboard. However, two days remain for the Hoosiers to make up the deficit.

"I think our guys realize how hard it's going to be," Looze said. "It's not easy to win championships in this league, and we're going to have to dig down deep. I think championships are won on Friday morning, and that's what we talked about tonight."

TEAM SCORES
1. Ohio State – 487.5
2. Indiana – 449
3. Michigan – 408
4. Purdue – 288.5
5. Wisconsin – 278
6. Northwestern – 2366
7. Penn State – 230
8. Minnesota – 179

NOTABLES
• Indiana's 3:00.95 in the 400 Medley Relay set meet record, beating IU's 2018 mark of 3:01.30 set by Gabriel Fantoni, Ian Finnerty, Vini Lanza and Blake Pieroni. Indiana now has four of the top five times in Big Ten Championship history.
• IU has won the 400 medley in each of the last seven seasons and a league record 28 times.
• The Hoosiers beat their previous season-best time in the 400 medley (3:04.05) by over three seconds to post the fastest time in the country.
• Two freshmen swam in IU's record-breaking relay. Josh Matheny had a 50.76 breaststroke split while Rafael Miroslaw raced the freestyle anchor leg in 41.21.
• Capobianco became the third Hoosier diver to capture the Big Ten 1-meter dive title in multiple seasons, following Darian Schmidt (2013-14) and Michael Hixon (2015, 2017-18), his Olympic 3M Synchronized Diving partner.
• Five of Capobianco's dives earned 70 points or better, and two of his dives scored at least 80 points. He executed a 405B to score 88.40 on his final dive.
• Hoosier divers have won four of the last five and eight of the last 10 Big Ten 1-meter diving championships.
• Henninger tallied a career-high 435.95 to earn silver in the 1-meter dive. Five of his six dives scored 70 points or better.
• All four Hoosier divers scored team points Thursday night. Three of those divers – Henninger, Lenin Hibler and Carson Tyler – are freshmen.

RESULTS
500 FREESTYLE
7. Warren Briggs – 4:17.65 (NCAA B Cut, Career Best)
17. Michael Brinegar – 4:18.87 (NCAA B Cut)

200 IM
6. Jacob Steele – 1:44.31 (NCAA B Cut)
7. Luke Barr – 1:44.56 (NCAA B Cut)
8. Van Mathias – 1:46.03 (NCAA B Cut)
13. Tristan DeWitt – 1:46.14 (NCAA B Cut)

50 FREESTYLE
4. Bruno Blaskovic – 19.43 (NCAA B Cut)
7. Jack Franzman – 19.60 (NCAA B Cut)
14. Rafael Miroslaw – 19.66 (NCAA B Cut)

1-METER DIVE
1. Andrew Capobianco – 454.25 (NCAA Zone Qualifier)
2. Quinn Henninger – 435.95 (NCAA Zone Qualifier, Career Best)
10. Carson Tyler – 374.60 (NCAA Zone Qualifier)
16. Lenin Hibler – 310.85 (NCAA Zone Qualifier)

400 MEDLEY RELAY
1. Brendan Burns, Josh Matheny, Tomer Frankel, Rafael Miroslaw – 3:00.95 (Big Ten Championship Record, NCAA A Cut)

UP NEXT
Day three of the 2022 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships is set to begin at 10 a.m. ET Friday (Feb. 25) in preliminary action with finals following at 5:30 p.m. ET. Athletes will compete in the 100 Butterfly, 400 IM, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke, 3-meter dive and 200 Freestyle Relay.

@IndianaSwimDive
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