IU’s Grothe Wins Gold, King Two Silvers on Sunday at Pan Pacific Championships

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Indiana University postgraduate swimmer Zane Grothe put an exclamation point on his great week at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, winning the gold medal in the men’s 800m freestyle.

Grothe earned his gold in the event with a Pan Pacs record time of 7:43.74. For the week, Grothe won three medals – gold in the 800m free, silver in the 1500m free and bronze in the 400m free.

IU’s Lilly King won two silver medals on Sunday to cap her week in Tokyo. The rising senior won silver in the women’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:22.12, securing her spot in the event on Team USA for next summer’s World Championships. Later, King helped Team USA (3:53.21) win silver in the women’s 4x100m medley relay. King split a 1:04.86 in her breaststroke leg, the best time in the field.

For the week, Hoosier swimmers have now earned 10 medals over the course of four days of competition – four gold, four silver and two bronze.

In the men’s 4x100m medley relay, current Hoosiers Vini Lanza and Gabriel Fantoni helped Team Brazil take fourth in the event with a time of 3:32.16. Lanza posted a time of 51.68 in the butterfly, while Fantoni led off with a backstroke leg of 53.72.

Blake Pieroni won his third B Final of the week on Sunday, touching first in the men’s 50m freestyle B Final with a time of 22.22. Pieroni also won the B Finals of the 100m free and 200m free. In the 50m B Final, current IU swimmer Zach Apple was second with a time of 22.30.

In the women’s 50m freestyle B Final, IU postgrads Margo Geer (25.04) and Isabella Arcila (25.28) placed third and fifth, respectively.

Incoming freshman Michael Brinegar had a great showing in the men’s 800m freestyle, posting the ninth-fastest time in 7:58.79. Brinegar will compete for Team USA in the open water 10k on Monday.

Postgrad swimmer Kennedy Goss placed sixth in the B Final of the women’s 200m backstroke for Team Canada,