The No. 3-ranked Indiana University men’s swimming and diving team had a great showing in prelims on Friday morning at the 2018 NCAA Championships at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
The Hoosiers qualified nine individuals and one relay for finals on Friday night. Indiana will have eight individuals and the 200 medley relay in Championship Finals. IU also set three school records and two Big Ten records on Friday morning.
Entering finals on Thursday, Indiana sits atop the team leaderboard with 169 points. NC State is second with 165 points, while Texas is third with a total of 159.
100 Butterfly
Indiana’s Vini Lanza was terrific on Friday morning, qualifying second overall for the Championship Final of the event with a Big Ten and school record time of 44.66. Lanza eclipsed his own previous conference and school mark set last month at the Big Ten Championships.
200 Freestyle
After becoming the fastest man in the history of the event on Wednesday, Blake Pieroni cruised to the No. 4 seed in the Championship Final of the 200 freestyle, touching the wall in a time of 1:32.40.
Joining Pieroni in the A-Final will be Mohamed Samy, who qualified seventh overall with a mark of 1:32.76.
100 Breaststroke
Ian Finnerty had a record-setting effort in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke, setting the Big Ten, school and pool record with his time of 50.47. Finnerty’s time makes him the third-fastest performer in the event all-time and earns him the No. 1 seed for Friday night’s Championship Final.
Levi Brock will join Finnerty in the A-Final, qualifying seventh overall with a time of 52.24.
100 Backstroke
Mohamed Samy posted a personal-best time of 45.62 to qualify 12th and earn a spot in the Consolation Final of the 100 backstroke.
200 Medley Relay
The records continued to fall in the 200 medley relay, as the IU team of Gabriel Fantoni, Ian Finnerty, Vini Lanza and Bruno Blaskovic qualified fourth overall for the Championship Final with a time of 1:23.26.
3-Meter Dive
Hoosier diving had an absolutely stunning performance in the 3-meter prelims, qualifying all three for the Championship Final.
Michael Hixon qualified second overall with a total of 454.85, while freshman Andrew Capobianco qualified fourth with a score of 440.90. James Connor will be the No. 8 seed for the A-Final on Friday night after totaling a 419.15.
The No. 3-ranked Indiana University Hoosiers will continue competition at the 2018 NCAA Championships on Friday evening with the finals of the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 3-meter dive. Action gets underway at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at 7:00 p.m. ET.
