IU Places Six Swimmers, Three Coaches on USA Swimming National Team

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Six Indiana University swimmers along with three Hoosier coaches were named to the 2017-18 USA Swimming National Team last week.

Current IU swimmers Ian Finnerty, Lilly King and Blake Pieroni were named to the team, along with alum Cody Miller and IU postgrads Zane Grothe and Amanda Kendall. IU head coach Ray Looze, associate head coach Mike Westphal and associate head sprint coach Coley Stickels were named Team USA coaches.

“Placing six swimmers and three coaches on the 2017 US National team is another step forward for the men’s and women’s swimming teams’ preparations for Tokyo 2020,” Looze remarked. “The performances at the World Championships in Budapest and the World University Games in Taipei have allowed our swimmers to gain valuable international experience which we will apply to our entire program. There is an old say which states, ‘you are who you hang out with’, which means if you’re at IU you will be hanging with Olympians, World record holders, World Champions and some of the best swimmers in the world. We celebrate all these outstanding coaches and swimmers for the fine accomplishment.”

The 2017-18 USA Swimming National Team features the top six athletes in each individual Olympic event from the combined results of the 2017 Phillips 66 National Championships, 2017 FINA World Championships, 2017 World University Games and the 2017 U.S. Open.

Below is a list of all six IU swimmers on Team USA, along with each event they qualified in and where they rank in the event amongst Team USA swimmers.

Ian Finnerty

100 breaststroke – 1:00.09 (2017 US Open – Fifth overall)

Zane Grothe

400 freestyle – 3:44.43 (2017 Nationals – First overall)
800 freestyle – 7:50.97 (2017 World Championships – Second overall)

Amanda Kendall

100 butterfly – 57.87 (2017 US Open – Second overall)

Lilly King

100 breaststroke – 1:04.13 (2017 World Championships – First overall)

200 breaststroke – 2:21.83 (2017 Nationals – Second overall)

Blake Pieroni

200 freestyle – 1:46.30 (2017 Nationals – Second overall)

Cody Miller

100 breaststroke – 59.08 (2017 World Championships – Second overall)