Four members of the No. 3/7 Indiana University swimming and diving teams earned weekly Big Ten swimming and diving honors on Wednesday, the conference office announced.
Blake Pieroni was named Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Week for the fifth time this season, while Jessica Parratto was named Big Ten Women’s Diver of the Week for the third time. James Connor was named Men’s Diver of the Week for the first time, while Gabriel Fantoni was named Freshman of the Week after his first meet for the Hoosiers.
This past Saturday, Pieroni, Connor and Fantoni helped the No. 3-ranked Hoosier men defeat the No. 8-ranked Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich. for the first time since the 1980-81 season. The dual-meet victory for the Hoosier men was the team’s 20th-straight.
Pieroni won three individual events and one relay on the afternoon, touching first in the 50 freestyle (19.60), 100 freestyle (42.94) and 200 freestyle (1:33.88) with NCAA B cut times.
He was also a member of the winning 400 freestyle relay that touched first with a mark of 2:54.83.
Fantoni, who joined Indiana at the semester break, had quite the debut. The Belo Horizonte, Brazil native won the 100 backstroke with a NCAA B cut time of 47.63 and was also on the triumphant 200 medley relay (1:26.71) team. Fantoni also placed third in the 100 butterfly (47.97) and the 200 backstroke (1:45.85).
In the diving well, Connor had a great showing, as he was the only diver to post scores of over 400 points in both events. The Melbourne, Australia native won the 1-meter with a total of 414.65 and took third in the 3-meter with a score of 401.15.
For the Hoosier women, Parratto was dominant, winning both diving events. Parratto took first in the 1-meter dive with a total of 328.40 and won the 3-meter with a mark of 334.50.
Earlier in the week, IU’s Lilly King was named National Swimmer of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com after winning the 100 breaststroke (59.55) and 200 breaststroke (2:10.95) against No. 4 Michigan.
The No. 3/7 Indiana swimming and diving teams will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 20 when the Hoosiers host Big Ten and in-state rival Purdue for Senior Day at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Ind.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. E
