Blake Pieroni repeated as champion in the 100-yard freestyle and swam a spectacular relay leg, helping Indiana to the team title Saturday night in the men’s Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships at Columbus, Ohio.
Breaststroker Marat Amaltdinov and Olympic silver medalist Steele Johnson won titles for Purdue, marking the second time the Boilermakers have ever had swimming and diving champions at the same Big Ten meet.
The team title was the first for the fourth-ranked Hoosiers since 2006 and 25th in history. They won 12 events, the most by an Indiana team since 1976. Indiana also won an unprecedented four relays out of five.
Indiana finished with 1,504 points. Michigan and Ohio State tied for second with 1,382. Purdue was sixth with 721½.
Pieroni, a relay gold medalist at the Rio Olympics, repeated as champion in the 100 freestyle and set a Big Ten record of 41.44, second-fastest in the NCAA this year. He also has the NCAA’s two fastest times in the 200 freestyle.
In the 400 freestyle relay, Pieroni started his anchor nearly one second behind Ohio State and finished nearly one second ahead, clocking a 40.99 leg. The Hoosiers’ winning time of 2:48.29 set another Big Ten record and also is No. 2 in the NCAA.
Indiana’s Vini Lanza, a Brazilian sophomore, was chosen Swimmer of the Championship. He set a school record of 1:40.97 in winning the 200 butterfly and ended with four gold medals and a silver, counting relays.
The Hoosiers had another champion in Bob Glover, who took the 200 backstroke in 1:41.25. Amaltdinov, a Russian junior, repeated in the 200 breaststroke in 1:52.89.
Johnson, a sophomore from Carmel, won his first conference diving title with a score of 547.80 on 10-meter platform. Judges awarded him 10s on three of six dives in the final. He earned 10s across the board on his front 4½ in Friday’s 3-meter final, worth 114 points in a sport in which 100 is a high score.
Over the four-day meet, the Hoosiers totaled five meet records and six Big Ten records. Divers contributed 242 points.
Source: Indy Star
