Top 10 Indiana Athletics moments of 2022-23 No. 8: Swim & Dive crowns three National Champions

Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center is Bloomington’s hottest club. It’s the home of Indiana Swim & Dive, a team whose 2022-23 campaign was fantastic for all parties involved.

The women’s side had a program defining year, tying a program-best seventh place finish at nationals thanks to 18 Hoosiers besting their seeds’ time. Sophomore Ching Hwee Gan had the squad’s best placement at NCAAs, finishing as the runner-up in the 1650-meter freestyle.

The men’s side spent their winter doing this.

In addition to winning its 29th (second straight!) Big Ten title, crowning three national champions, and finishing fourth at NCAAs. Here are the Hoosiers who reigned supreme in Minneapolis:

Brendan Burns

Brendan Burns is a machine. The 19-time All-American got some well-deserved redemption in March, winning the 100-yard backstroke race after finishing second in the event in 2022.

It’s the second national title for Burns. He won the 200-yard butterfly race in 2022, and did so in dramatic fashion. Both of Brendan’s NCAA Ws have come from lane six.

Burns rounded out his 2023 NCAAs with silver medals in the 200 fly and 400 medley relay. He and teammates Josh Matheny, Tomer Frankel, and Rafael Miroslaw shaved over a second off their 2022 runner-up performance in 2023.

Burns is the first athlete to win the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly double at the Big Ten Championships meet. Winning “the double” is exceptionally difficult because of the grueling physical demands of each event and fact that they take place nearly consecutively during the final session of a meet. Burns has taken both races in rapid succession at three separate B1G Championships.

Burns has amassed 17 Big Ten titles and two Big Ten Swimmer of the Year nods among a bevvy (seriously, too many to count) of other accolades over the course of the last four winters. Having already announced that he’ll be back for a fifth year, we predict the Philly area phenom’s trophy case becoming plenty more crowded in 2023-24.

Honorable mention to Indiana’s other two medaling swimmers: Tomer Frankel and Van Mathias. Frankel took third in the 100 fly while Mathias finished runner-up in the 100 breast. They both scored big points to help IU secure its second consecutive top-five finish. Onto the divers!

Andrew Capobianco

The thing you need to know about Andrew Capobianco is that he’s literally an Olympian. The six-year Hoosier won silver in synchronized 3-meter springboard diving with Michael Hixon (‘18) in Tokyo and has multiple other international medals to his name. He capped off his illustrious collegiate career with a third national title in 3-meter diving.

Mesmerizing stuff. Let me know how many spins that was in the comments please...I lost count.

The North Carolina native won the 3m in a blowout, finishing over 70 points clear of runner-up Shangfei Wang of USC. Fellow Hoosier Quentin Henninger took third in the event. Capobianco also medaled in the 1-meter, taking second by just 4.5 points.

Capobianco will be remembered as one of the most decorated athletes in Indiana history. He was named Big Ten Diver of the Year four (!!!!!) times and won the conference’s first treble in over a decade during his senior season on top of everything else mentioned above. He is, for all intents and purposes, my GOAT.

Carson Tyler

Carson Tyler is the new kid on the block in Bloomington’s “national champs” neighborhood. The sophomore from Southern Georgia placed first in the Platform diving event, finishing with a monster score of 476.30.

Here’s the dive that locked it up for Tyler, earning a perfect 10 from six of seven judges:

Crowd reaction says it all. Nearly, nearly perfect stuff from Tyler.

Tyler’s 207C performance helped him add nearly 100 points to his 2022 NCAAs Platform score (382.70/12th place.) This time around he stood atop the podium with aforementioned teammate Quentin Henninger, who finished third in Platform behind Tyler and Tennessee’s Bryden Hattie.

Tyler, who won the 2023 Big Ten 1-meter and Platform titles, also took fourth in the 3-meter at NCAAs. With Andrew Capobianco having exhausted his eligibility, an era of Tyler/Henninger domination will likely befall the collegiate dive circuit.

CQ’s Top 10 Indiana Athletics moments of 2022-23

10) Sydney Parrish transfers in

9) Women’s soccer shutout streak