The Longhorn swim and dive teams head north this weekend to Indiana for a tri-meet with Indiana University and Louisville, kicking off Friday at 12:30 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.
Both the No. 2 men’s team and the No. 5 women’s team are coming off of a road win in College Station against rival Texas A&M last week. While the Aggies were not an easy team to beat, the Longhorns will continue to face stiff competition in their first tri-team meet of the year.
On the men’s side, both Indiana and Louisville are ranked inside the top 10 at No.6 and No. 9 respectively, setting up a dramatic clash in the water between three top-10 squads. The women aren’t far behind and No. 9 Indiana and No. 21 Louisville are still top-25 teams, so the eyes of the swimming world will be on the star power in Bloomington this weekend.
Texas and Indiana look to battle it out in the pool, with each school sending some of the best collegiate swimmers in the country into the water. Indiana senior Mohamed Hassan is ranked first in the NCAA in the 100-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, while Texas’ sophomore Daniel Krueger is third in the 100-yard freestyle. Additionally, senior Maxime Rooney and sophomore Drew Kibler are sixth and eighth in the 200-yard freestyle.
Louisville’s strength is on the diving board. Junior Daniel Pinto of the Cardinal is ranked ninth in the NCAA for the 1-meter board and fourth for the 3-meter. But Texas has two star divers of its own with junior Jordan Windle, who ranks fourth for the 1-meter and second for the 3-meter, and senior Grayson Campbell, who ranks fifth in the 3-meter dive.
The women’s side of the competition projects to be more even, as each school has strong athletes in a multitude of events. Freshman Kelly Pash will pace the Longhorns in the pool as she is ranked third in the 200-yard freestyle and will be competing against Louisville junior Arina Openysheva and Indiana freshman Cora Dupre, who are ranked fourth and fifth in the nation in the 200-yard freestyle respectively.
On the diving board, senior Alison Gibson will be diving for Texas. She is ranked first in the 1-meter dive and second in the 3-meter. She’ll be facing off against Louisville senior Molly Fears, who is fourth in both, and Louisville senior Michaela Sliney, who is sixth in the 3-meter.
Texas is sending a strong squad to Indiana, but they will be challenged both in the pool and on the diving board.
Returning to Indiana will be a homecoming event for a few Longhorns, as a trio of Texas athletes hail from various cities within the state. Senior Claire Adams, Kibler and Pash are all from Carmel, Indiana while sophomore Michael Couet is from Franklin, Indiana.
The team will attempt to set a championship-level tone in Indiana as they attempt to earn their 15th NCAA title.
