IU Men and Women Roar Past Notre Dame and Wisconsin on Day One of Double Dual

Full meet results available here. This meet is taking place at the UW Natatorium in Madison, WI.

WOMEN’S MEET

Indiana swam very well on day one of this two-day double dual, winning five out of the nine swimming events. Their first wins came back-to-back-to-back, with a 9:48.08 win in the 1000 free from freshman Kennedy Goss over Wisconsin’s Danielle Valley (9:51.22) in Valley’s 2nd competition with the Badgers after her move from Gregg Troy’s program at Florida, followed by a 200 free win from senior Haley Lips (1:47.66). Note that this was Goss’s first time competing in the 1000 free in dual meet competition. That win in the 200 free was impressive for Lips, who had just gotten out from the 1000, where she placed third (9:55.91). Canadian backstroke phenom Brooklyn Snodgrass topped the 100 backstroke field in 54.64 for Indiana’s third straight win.

The Hoosier women hit a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 fly, led by sophomore Gia Dalesandro (1:59.93). She just barely edged out freshman Reagan Cook (1:59.94), while sophomore Olivia Barker finished in third (2:00.58). Their fifth and final swimming event victory came in the 800 free relay, where they finished in 7:17.37, nearly three seconds ahead of a 2nd place Badger team that included Valley and senior sprint star Ivy Martin.

Martin was on as usual in the sprints, torching the 50 free field in a very quick 22.27. She led a 1-2-3 Badger finish, followed by sophomore Chase Kinney (22.77) and junior Annie Tamblyn (23.56). Martin teamed up with Kinney, Tamblyn, and junior Anna Meinholz to win the 200 medley relay in 1:40.55, just over three seconds ahead of 2nd place Notre Dame. Tamblyn led off in 26.26, followed by Meinholz (28.50), Martin (23.40!) and Kinney (22.39). Notre Dame’s breaststroke star, Emma Reaney, had the fastest breast split of the field (28.04), as the Badgers and the Fighting Irish dominated the Hoosiers in this first relay.

A big hole in the otherwise fairly sound IU program lies in the breaststroke. While Snodgrass can certainly handle breaststroke relay duties from time to time, the Hoosiers need their top backstroker to swim backstroke. No IU swimmer broke 30 on the breast leg of any of their relays, and their highest finish in the 100 breast was a 1:06.73 from sophomore Claudia Di Capua, which was only 7th. Luckily for the Hoosiers, there’s help coming, namely from class of 2019 commits Miranda Tucker and Lilly King, who have 100 breast personal bests of 1:00.01 and 59.67, respectively.

There is certainly no shortage of breaststroke power for the Notre Dame women, whose Reaney put together another great double in the 100 breast (1:01.94) and 200 IM (2:01.43), winning both events. In the 100 breast, she was just off of her 1:01.57 from her win against Michigan and Northwestern, and actually slightly faster in the IM from her performance in that event at the same meet. Reaney will square up in the 200 breast tomorrow, likely swimming in her own league as few are able to match the ferocity of the defending national champion and American record holder (yards) in that event.

Hoosier diver Lacey Houser held off a strong showing by three Notre Dame divers, winning the 3 meter event with 338.50 points. Houser and the three Notre Dame divers all cracked 300 points.

MEN’S MEET

The Hoosier men just outdid their female counterparts, touching first in six of nine swimming events. They had bookend relay wins, taking the 200 medley (1:30.30) just barely over the Badgers (1:30.43) and the 800 free relay (6:34.47) with almost a full second of cushion over Wisconsin. The fastest split in that 800 relay came from IU’s Anze Tavcar, who anchored in 1:37.68 to hold off Badger sophomore Brett Pinfold (1:38.45). IU freshman sensation Blake Pieroni led off the relay in 1:38.43, which certainly sat in the shadow of his individual 200 free. Pieroni won the event handily in a very fast 1:36.62, nearly two seconds ahead of senior teammate Mike Hurley (1:38.53) and nabbing a B cut.

Underclassmen ruled much of the men’s meet, with first- or second-year swimmers winning six of the seven individual events. Sophomore Max Irwin won the 200 fly for the Hoosiers in an impressive time of 1:47.48, the only swimmer to break 1:50.00.

Close races also highlighted the men’s meet, as victors of three different events won by margins of .10 or less. The biggest margin of the three closest races came in the 100 breast, where Wisconsin senior Nick Schaefer clocked a 55.21 over IU’s Tanner Kurz (55.31). Hoosier sophomore Bob Glover, coming off of a field-leading backstroke lead-off from the 200 medley relay (22.95), took the 100 back in 49.25, just six hundredths ahead of Badger backstroke star Andrew teDuits (49.31). Finally, Tavcar notched another Hoosier win in the 50 free (20.68) just edging out Badger sophomore Cannon Clifton (20.72).

Two Wisconsin sophomores dominated the remaining swimming events, with Matthew Hutchins taking the 1000 free (9:06.13) by a convincing 10 second margin over IU sophomore Jackson Miller (9:16.60) and Brett Pinfold leading a Badger 1-2 in the 200 IM (1:50.40). He beat out teammate teDuits (1:50.58) and IU’s Hurley (1:50.93).

Indiana coupled a win on the women’s side in 3 meter diving with a 1-2 finish by Texas transfer and defending 1 and 3 meter springboard NCAA champion Michael Hixon and freshman/Australian Olympian James Conor in the men’s 1 meter. Hixon finished with 444.20 points, ahead of Conor who tallied 364.15 points. That performance for Hixon was a new school record as well as a dual meet record for IU.

SCORES (after Day 1 of 2)

WOMEN

Indiana 102 – 81 Wisconsin

Indiana 129 – 57 Notre Dame

MEN

Indiana 115 – 71 Wisconsin

Indiana 146 – 40 Notre Dame

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Look for a recap tomorrow of the 2nd day of the meet, which is slated to begin at 10:00 AM CT.