Hoosiers win Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championship

On Saturday, the 4th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers men’s swimming and diving team finished what it started earlier in the week, going wire-to-wire to win the 2017 Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championship, the program’s first since 2006 and 25th overall. The Hoosiers finished with 1,504 points, 122 points ahead of Michigan and Ohio State who tied for second.

Tape-delayed coverage of the event can be seen at 10:30 a.m. ET this morning on Big Ten Network.

Vini Lanza led the charge for the Hoosiers and took home the Swimmer of the Championships award, winning gold medals in four events, the 200 IM, 200 medley relay, 200 butterfly, and 400 medley relay. Lanza also took silver in the 100 butterfly.

Lanza also landed on the All-Big Ten First-Team, along with eight other Hoosier swimmers and divers. Marwan Elkamash, Ian Finnerty, Bob Glover, Michael Hixon, Ali Khalafalla, Blake Pieroni, Mohamed Samy, and Anze Tavcar also received top-billing honors.

In total, Indiana took home 12 individual titles, the most since 1976. Glover took gold in the 200 backstroke, Pieroni in the 100 freestyle, and Tavcar, Khalafalla, Samy, and Pieroni teamed to win the 400 freestyle relay, setting Big Ten, meet, school, and pool records.

The 400 freestyle relay win was one of five relay championships the Hoosiers claimed, the most ever won in a single Big Ten conference championship meet.

The Big Ten title is just another feather in the cap for the program that was already 11-0 in events where it sent its entire team. Up next, they’ll head up the road to Indianapolis to compete in the NCAA Championships at the Indiana University Natatorium, located at IUPUI from March 22-25.