No. 6 Hoosiers Score Silver, Shatter School Standard in 800 Free Relay

Wednesday, February 18

Minneapolis

5 p.m. ET

Indiana University

Big Ten Championships - Finals

No. 6 Hoosiers Score Silver, Shatter School Standard in 800 Free Relay

2/18/2026 8:00:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Results (PDF)

MINNEAPOLIS – Three freshmen and a junior crushed the Indiana women's swimming and diving program record in the 800-yard freestyle relay during the first night of the 2026 Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday (Feb. 18) inside the Jane K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

The IU quartet touched in a second-place time of 6:51.11, crushing the previous school standard – 6:54.03, set at the 2024 NCAA Championships – by nearly three seconds. Only Michigan's Big Ten record 6:48.02 swim beat out the Hoosiers.

"I thought it was great battle," IU head swimming coach Ray Looze said. "We just came up a little bit short. But I think we can be significantly better in that relay at the NCAA Championships. We just need to make sure we have easy speed, taking out our first 50 and then finish the race better. We probably had three out of four legs hurting on that last 50. And it's important to have those splits be pretty balanced throughout, and they all know that. We're trying to win, so they were kind of pedal to the metal a little too early."

Freshman Liberty Clark led things off in 1:41.32, just under her personal best, and gave way to classmate Alex Shackell, who went 1:42.16 in the second leg. Junior Macky Hodges took the third leg in 1:44.16, and freshman Grace Hoeper closed it out with a 1:43.47.

Indiana sits in a tie for third after two events with 106 points. The Hoosier also competed in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing fifth with a time of 1:35.53. Notably, senior Kristina Paegle dropped the quickest anchor split and the lone anchor under 21 seconds with a 20.92.

It was not our finest moment," Looze said. "We're capable of executing a lot better. I think it primarily gets chalked up to people trying too hard, maybe being a little too nervous. All four of those athletes are in the meet now, and they'll do better moving forward.

"Solid start, we have a lot of work to do. The conference is getting better, so we need to up our game, and we're looking to have a good preliminary session tomorrow."

TEAM SCORES
1. Michigan – 128
2. Ohio State – 108
t3. Indiana – 106
t3. Wisconsin – 106
5. USC – 96
6. Northwestern – 94
t7. Minnesota – 92
t7. UCLA – 92
9. Purdue – 74
10. Nebraska – 72
t11. Illinois – 62
t11. Iowa – 62
t11. Penn State – 62
14. Rutgers - 54

RESULTS
200 MEDLEY RELAY
5. Mya DeWitt, Jonette Laegreid, Miranda Grana, Kristina Paegle – 1:35.53 (NCAA A Cut)

800 FREESTYLE RELAY
2. Liberty Clark, Alex Shackell, Macky Hodges, Grace Hoeper – 6:51.11 (Big Ten Silver NCAA A Cut, Program Record)

Liberty Clark (leadoff) – 1:41.32 (NCAA Cut)

UP NEXT
The 2025 Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships resume Thursday for day two, the first full day of action. Athletes will compete in the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 1-meter diving and 200 freestyle relay with preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Finals are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

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