The Indiana University Swim Team has been a major player at the 2014 Junior National Championships this week. On Thursday night, the IUST relay won the 4×100 freestyle relay with a new meet record time. Tonight, the same team of Ian Finnerty, Max Irwin, Brandon Colonis, and Blake Pieroni won the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:28.28. Take a look at their splits below:
- Ian Finnerty: 1:53.15
- Max Irwin: 1:51.49
- Brandon Colonis: 1:55.45
- Blake Pieroni: 1:48.39
This is a very talented group of swimmers. Ian Finnerty is the number high school recruit from the state of Indiana. He will be a senior at Bloomington South High School this year. Blake Pierioni and Brandon Colonis are both incoming freshman at Indiana that have moved to Bloomington, IN to begin training with the Indiana team this summer. Max Irwin just finished his freshman year at Indiana and will be starting his sophomore year in the fall.
Blake Pieroni qualified for the Junior World Championship team last year in the 200 freestyle as a member of this same relay. Individually, he is only swimming the 50 freestyle this week. The impact he has made on these relays this week, however, is huge. On thursday night he anchored in 49.55, and today he anchored with a 1:48.34. He will be interesting to keep track of next week at Nationals. Being in Irvine a week early does help him adjust to the three hour time difference. Swimming in finals at 11pm is a lot different than swimming in finals at 8pm.
The IUST relay broke the previous record set last year by Dynamo Swim Club. The previous meet and NAG records from Dynamo were established at 7:30.87. Take a look at their comparative splits:
- Jay Litherland: 1:53.21
- Gunnar Bentz: 1:50.47
- Kevin Litherland: 1:52.98
- Mick Litherland:1:54.21.