CHICAGO – For the second-straight season, Indiana University’s Lilly King was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, while IU head swimming coach Ray Looze was named Big Ten Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year, the league office announced on Monday.
King’s honor is the eighth in program history and the sophomore becomes the first Hoosier to earn the award twice since Kate Fesenko in 2009-10. The Big Ten Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year honor for Looze is the fifth of his career and his seventh total Big Ten Coach of the Year accolade.
At the NCAA Championships last week, King continued her dominance of the breaststroke events, repeating as NCAA Champion in both the 100 and 200 breast. In the 200 breast, King set the American, NCAA, NCAA Meet, U.S. Open, IU Natatorium and IU school record with the best time in the history of the event – 2:03.18.
At the Big Ten Championships in February, King was named Swimmer of the Championships after winning individual titles in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM. The Evansville, Ind. native also won a gold medal with the 400 medley relay and a silver medal with the 200 medley relay.
King, who was also named First-Team All-Big Ten, was the fifth Hoosier to be named Swimmer of the Championships and the first since Allysa Varva in 2012.
For the third-straight season, Looze led the Hoosiers as the top Big Ten team at the NCAA Championships, as IU placed eighth overall with a total of 185 points. The finish and point total are both the second-best in program history – second only to last season’s seventh place finish with 228 points.
IU was the top Big Ten finisher at the NCAA Championships for the third-straight year, as
the Hoosiers posted back-to-back top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships for the first time since accomplishing the feat three times-in-a-row from 2008-10. The top-10 finish is the eighth in school history.
At the NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers had eight individuals earn a total of 24 All-America honors, marking the sixth time in the last nine seasons that Indiana has had 20 or more All-America accolades.
In February, IU earned a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championships with a total score of 1125 points. Over the course of the meet, IU won a total of nine medals – eight gold and one silver.
Indiana has placed first or second at the Big Ten Championships in each of the last nine years, winning the title three-straight times from 2009 to 2011. The Hoosiers have finished second the last six seasons.
Over the course of the Big Ten Championships, the Hoosiers posted some impressive accolades. The Hoosiers broke four school records, four Big Ten records, six Big Ten meet records, six Boilermaker Aquatic Center pool records, one NCAA record and one American record. IU also amassed nine NCAA A cut times and had 42 personal-best swims.
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