The Indiana men’s sprinters and divers put on a show Friday afternoon, and the Hoosier women came up just a few points short in a season-opening dual meet with the Auburn Tigers Friday afternoon at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Indiana.
The IU men were victorious over the Tigers, 149-91, while the Auburn women topped the Hoosiers, 129-113.
Haley Lips led things off with a second-place finish in the 1,000 free, clocking in at 9:58.09. Stephanie Marchuk was fourth (10:03.43) and Cynthia Pammett fifth (10:18.09). Jackson Miller led the way for the men with a winning time of 9:24.99.
Freshman Ali Khalafalla anchored the men’s 200 medley relay to victory as Bob Glover, Tanner Kurz, Max Irwin and Khalafalla combined for a time of 1:28.78.
Freshman Kennedy Goss (1:48.75) and junior Brooklynn Snodgrass (1:49.55) led a 1-2 IU finish in the women’s 200 freestyle, while freshman Blake Pieroni posted an NCAA B cut for the men with a winning time of 1:37.74. Senior Mike Hurley was second in 1:39.11.
Sophomore Anze Tavcar swept the sprint events, winning the 50 free in 20.16 and the 100 free in 44.09. Both are NCAA B cuts. Khalafalla took third in the 50 free in 20.67.
Freshman James Connor was victorious in his first collegiate competition, taking the men’s 1-meter title with a score of 377.33. Right on his heels was sophomore Michael Hixon with a score of 375.00. Jessica Parratto took the women’s 3-meter crown with her tally of 306.60.
Connor made it a sweep, winning the 3-meter event with a score of 415.58, five points ahead of Hixon (410.55). Parratto also finished the day as a double winner with a score of 285.60 on the 1-meter springboard, with junior Lacey Houser second (277.20).
Indiana recorded a pair of second-place finishes in the 200 individual medley in sophomore Gia Dalesandro (2:03.27) and senior Steve Schmuhl (1:48.60). Schmuhl’s time is an NCAA provisional cut.
Dalesandro posted the fastest time in the Big Ten this season to win the 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:59.73. Sophomore Max Irwin was the winner for the men in a time of 1:48.08.
Snodgrass nearly got her NCAA auto time in the 200 backstroke with a 1:53.97, beating second-place finisher Jillian Vitarius by almost five seconds. Senior Allie Day was third in 2:00.12.
Lips (4:52.41) and Goss (4:53.24) went 1-2 in the 500 freestyle, while Smith was the winner for the men in 4:33.89. Tanner Kurz won the 200 breaststroke for the men with an NCAA provisional time of 1:58.92.
In the final event of the day, Lips, Snodgrass, Goss and freshman Grace Vertigans finished second in the 400 freestyle relay. The men’s quad of Pieroni, Tavcar, Irwin and Khalafalla won in 2:58.36.
Auburn swimming and diving split its opening dual meet of the season on the road at Indiana Friday at the Counsilmen-Billingsley Aquatics Center.
The Auburn women (1-0) defeated Indiana, 129-113, in their first trip to Bloomington, Ind., while the Tiger men (0-1) fell 149-91 to the Hoosiers. The win for the Auburn women moved the Tigers to 3-0 all-time against Indiana.
“It was nice to see some of our freshman women step up,” head coach Brett Hawke. “It was good to see Valerie Hull and McKenna DeBever swim well for us. I thought Allyx Purcell and Jillian Vitarius also turned in some really good swims this afternoon and I was pleased to see how they performed on the road. ”
The Tigers won seven events in the women’s meet, including sweeping the 200 medley and 400 free relays. Auburn’s women dominated the sprint freestyle events, finishing 1-2-3 in both the 50 and 100 free. Megan Fonteno took the win in the 50 free with a time of 23:04, followed by Ashton Ellzey in second (23.37) and Hull (23.48) placing third.
In the 100 free, Allyx Purcell finished first at 49.82 to pick up her first NCAA ‘B’ cut of the season. Hull claimed second with a time of 51.16, while DeBever was third at 51.61.
Annie Lazor notched a win in the 200 IM with a solid swim of 2:02.97 and DeBever continued with her strong performance taking third touching in at 2:03.97. Natasha Lloyd’s victory in the 200 breast (2:17.50) sealed the meet in favor of the Tigers while Sarah Peterson took second with a time of 2:21.91 to give Auburn another 1-2 finish.
Ashley Neidigh won the 1,000 free with a personal best time of 9:52.05 to open the meet, while Zoe Thatcher took third with a time of 10:00.66. Vitarius was impressive for the Tiger women in the opening meet of the season, taking second at 1:58.75 in the 200 back to claim a NCAA provisional cut. The junior was also the top-finisher for the Tigers in the 200 free at 1:49.70 to take third in the event.
Auburn’s women finished 1-2 in the 200 medley relay to garner key points early in the meet as the team of Vitarius, Lazor, Fonteno and Purcell took the top spot at 1:41.08. The Tigers closed out Friday’s meet with a strong performance in the 400 free relay as the squad of Purcell, Fonteno, DeBever and Hull touched in first at 3:21.22.
On the men’s side, Joe Patching picked up a pair of wins, clocking a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:45.75 in the 200 back to cruise to victory. The sophomore also touched in first in the 200 IM, posting a time of 1:48.25 to notch another NCAA provisional cut to start off the year.
“We lost a couple of close races early and I thought Indiana’s men were ready for us,” Hawke said after the meet. “We’ve got to address some small issues before we get back in the pool against Alabama and LSU.”
Michael Duderstadt took second in the men’s 200 breast at 2:01.74, while Zach Warner was third at 2:07.76. Duderstadt also picked up a third-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 44.87. Alex Hancock finished second in the 200 fly at 1:49.67, out-touching teammate Arthur Mendes at 1:49.69.
In diving, Fraser McKean finished in third overall on the 1-meter (362.25) and 3-meter (365.18) springboards for Auburn. Both scores the senior were NCAA Zone qualifying scores. Justin Youtsey also earned NCAA Zone qualifying scores with fourth-place finishes on the 1-meter (326.10) and 3-meter (352.20).
On the women’s side, Cinzia Calabretta earned a second-place finish on the 3-meter board with a score of 286.20. The senior also was third on the 1-meter with a 255.30. Both of Calabretta’s scores were good enough to make the NCAA zone qualifying standards.
Auburn’s women return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m., opening its home slate with Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. The Tiger men will have a few weeks off before traveling to Tuscaloosa on Nov. 1 to take on Alabama and LSU.
