The Indiana Hoosiers lead another dominating performance against the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday in Bloomington at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center. After IU’s 14th consecutive victory against Purdue, it's safe to say this rivalry meet did not faze the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers won 13 out of 14 sets before the first half of the meet. The IU men's team won 218-82 while the women dominated 221-79.
Anne Fowler sure left a splash, as she broke the IU dual meet record for her 3-meter performance. Her 1-meter score of 332.70 and 3-meter score of 415.58 gave IU a prominent lead and helped kick off the meet. Skylar Liu also dominated the pool, as her score of 378.60 during the women’s platform competition landed her another first place finish.
“I’m a big fan of Anne Fowler,” IU head coach Ray Looze said. “Anne’s a team builder and she just got what she’s deserved for many many years today in front of a packed house. It couldn’t have happened to a better person or a better leader.”
IU continued to sweep the competition, as Kristina Paegle, Anna Peplowski and Ava Whitaker swept the top three during the women’s 100 fly. On the men’s side, Maxwell Reich, Luke Barr and Josh Matheny placed top three during the 100 breaststroke. Jassen Yep, Reich and Toby Barnett also swept the top three in the 200 breastroke.
In addition to IU’s rivalry meet win, IU swept the Big Ten Weekly Awards this past week, as five IU swimmers were honored in the top six weekly awards. Among these swimmers were Peplowski, Brendan Burns, Anne Fowler, Carson Tyler and Mikkel Lee.
The Hoosiers still have one last hometown meet against the Wisconsin Badgers and Louisville Cardinals before closing their regular season. The Indiana Hoosiers close out their dominating season at noon on Feb. 2. With some swimmers missing that meet as they compete in world championships, Looze said that meet will test his team.
“We’re a work in progress,” Looze said. “We really want to be at our best at NCAA, so that’s what we are focused on. Those are going to be really, really tough meets (IU vs Wisconsin vs Louisville). ...We are going to have the greatest challenge we’ve had.”
