Indiana’s Fantoni Posts 46.8/1:44.9 Backstrokes Against Purdue

INDIANA VS. PURDUE

• Results
• Hosted by Indiana
• Saturday, January 20th
• 25 Yards
• Dual Meet Format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• MEN: Indiana 206, Purdue 92
• WOMEN: Indiana 176, Purdue 123

World Champion Lilly King pulled off a winning triple on Saturday as the Indiana men and women dominated Purdue at home while celebrating senior day. King swept her specialty breaststroke races, turning in winning times of 1:01.36 in the 100 and 2:10.61 in the 200. She also won the 200 IM in 2:01.29. King’s time in the 200 breast was just a half second shy of her season best, which stands as a 2:10.13 from the Hoosiers’ meet against Tennessee and Kentucky.

Senior sprint standout Ali Khalafalla swept the sprint freestyles to highlight the senior day celebration. Khalafalla was dominant in the 50 free, finishing nearly a full second ahead of the field to win it in a quick 19.68. He was over a second ahead of the field in the 100 free as well, touching in 44.10 ahead of teammate Bruno Blaskovic (45.36). While the senior talent was on display, the Hoosiers also got a boost from one of their freshmen. Brazilian newcomer Gabriel Fantoni blew away the field in the 100 back, winning by over 2 seconds in 46.86. He finished body lengths ahead of the field in the 200 back as well with a 1:44.91.

Ian Finnerty and Vini Lanza also swept their specialties for the Hoosiers. Finnerty rocked a 52.72 to win the 100 breast by 2 seconds before using his front-half speed to outpace Purdue All-American Marat Amaltdinov, 1:57.06 to 1:58.30, in the 200 breast. Lanza brought home the 200 fly win in 1:46.11 and secured the 100 fly win in 47.34. He also finished 2nd in the 200 free, touching in 1:38.29 behind freshman teammate Mohamed Samy (1:36.47).

PRESS RELEASE – INDIANA:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The No. 3/7-ranked Indiana University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams completed an impressive sweep of Purdue on Senior Day Saturday afternoon in front of a capacity crowd at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Ind.

The No. 3-ranked Hoosier men extended their dual meet win-streak to 21-straight with a 206-92 win over the Boilermakers, improving to 8-0 on the year. The No. 7-ranked IU women took down PU, 176-123, to move to 4-4 on the season.

With the two victories, Indiana takes the lead over Purdue in the Governor’s Cup, 4.5-3.5. The overall winner of the contest will be awarded a trophy at the end of the season. Each sport can earn one point toward the overall championship. A total of 19 or 20 points can be won, depending on the number of meetings between the teams in various sports.

Indiana won the 2016-17 Governor’s Cup, 11.0-9.0. IU has a 7-4-2 record against Purdue in the competition over its 13-year history.

Leading the way for the Hoosiers on Saturday was Lilly King, who took home three individual wins against the Boilermakers. The junior won the 100 breaststroke (1:01.36), 200 breaststroke (2:10.61) and 200 IM (2:01.29) with NCAA B cut times.

For the Hoosier men, four swimmers earned two individual wins apiece, all with NCAA B cut marks. Senior Ali Khalafallawon the 50 freestyle (19.68) and 100 freestyle (44.10), while Vini Lanza swept the butterfly events, winning the 100 in 47.34 and the 200 in 1:46.11.

Ian Finnerty took first in both breaststroke events, winning the 100 with a mark of 52.72 and the 200 in 1:57.06. Freshman Gabriel Fantoni continued his great swimming, winning both backstroke events. The Brazilian touched first in the 100 in a season-best time of 46.86 and the 200 in 1:44.91.

For the IU women, senior Ali Rockett won a pair of events – the 100 backstroke in a NCAA B cut of 53.13 and the 50 freestyle in 23.13. In the diving well, Jessica Parratto took first in both events, winning with NCAA Zones qualifying scores. The redshirt junior placed first in the 1-meter with a score of 345.45 and the platform with a season-best total of 350.33.

Michael Hixon had a tremendous showing in the men’s 1-meter dive, winning with an Indiana dual-meet record score of 453.90. Also winning events for the IU men were Mohamed Samy in the 200 freestyle (1:36.47, NCAA B cut) and Adam Destrampe in the 500 freestyle (4:26.93).

Senior Rachel Matsumura touched first for the Hoosiers in the women’s 200 backstroke with a NCAA B cut time of 1:58.71, while Christine Jensen touched first in the women’s 100 butterfly in a NCAA B cut time of 53.07.

In the 200 medley relay, the Hoosiers earned a sweep. On the women’s side, the team of Ali Rockett, Lilly King, Christine Jensen and Grace Haskett won with a time of 1:38.57. For the IU men, the team of Gabriel Fantoni, Ian Finnerty, Bruno Blaskovic and Blake Pieroni touched the wall first with a mark of 1:27.54.

In the final event of the afternoon, the Hoosier men’s 400 freestyle relay of Nikola Miljenic, Vini Lanza, Oliver Patrouch and Josh Romany won with a time of 2:59.81.

The No. 3/7 Indiana Hoosiers will return to the pool on Friday, Jan. 26, when the team heads south to face the No. 14/8 Louisville Cardinals in Louisville, Ky. The meet is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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.

PRESS RELEASE – PURDUE:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A strong showing in the women’s freestyle events along with multiple career-best scores in the diving well highlighted Purdue swimming & diving’s dual meet losses at top 10 ranked Indiana on Saturday.

Kaersten Meitz and Danielle Auckley teamed up to help the Purdue women win five of the six freestyle events, all but the 50. Meitz swept the 200, 500 and 1,000 free vs. IU for the second year in a row. Auckley was victorious in the 100 free against the Hoosiers for the second consecutive season as well. They teamed with Jackie Smailis and Megan Johnson to make the Boilermakers a winner in the 400 free relay to close the dual.

Taite Kitchel won the 200 butterfly, went toe-to-toe with Olympian Lilly King in the 200 individual medley and posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time (B Cut) in all three of her individual events. Kitchel and Meitz have won an individual event at all six of the Purdue women’s dual meets this season.

Brandon Loschiavo (platform diving, 482.25) and Nick McDowell (1,000 free, 9:12.87) accounted for the Purdue men’s event victories Saturday. Both posted team season bests. Loschiavo was victorious by 61 points as the only Boilermaker in the event, improving on his third-best score in program history. McDowell’s mark was just six hundredths of a second off of his sixth-best time in program history.

Morgan Meixner posted career-best scores in both springboard events, winning the 3-meter exhibition. Her scores of 320.93 on 1-meter and 340.88 on 3-meter were both Purdue season bests, moving the junior into 9th and 11th place in program history.

Meixner, Emily Meaney, Emily Bretscher and Samm Reese finished 2-3-4-5 on 1-meter behind IU Olympian Jessica Parratto. Meaney (320.10) and Bretscher (316.68) posted career-best scores on 1-meter and season bests (339.90, 266.18) on platform. Meaney is now 10th in program history on 1-meter while Bretscher moved into 11th on 1-meter and 14th on platform.

Erik Juliusson recorded personal season-best times in all three of his individual events. He was the runner-up in both the 100 fly (48.34) and 200 IM (1:48.14). His 100 fly time doubled as a team season best and his 200 IM mark was a B Cut. Joe Young (49.22) and Juliusson (49.26) finished 2-3 in the 100 back.

Marat Amaltdinov posted B Cuts in both breaststroke events, but did not win the 200 breast at a meet for the first time this season. Indiana’s Ian Finnerty ended Amaltdinov’s streak (they finished 1-2) while sweeping the breaststroke events. Trent Pellini was Purdue’s top finisher in the 100 with a B Cut time of 55.09. Jinq En Phee (1:02.35) posted a B Cut in the women’s 100 breast.

Kitchel won the 200 fly by more than two seconds, posting a B Cut time of 1:58.01. King out touched Kitchel by 11 hundredths of a second in the 200 IM in what proved to be the most exciting finish of the day.

The Boilermakers close out their dual meet schedule next weekend at the annual Big Ten Triple Duals vs. Minnesota and Northwestern. The Gophers are hosting the two-day meet this year in Minneapolis. Action begins Friday at 7 p.m. ET.