Eleven swimmers from the Indiana University men’s program earned individual qualifying berths to the 2020 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis on March 25-28, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.
The following swimmers will be NCAA bound later this month: sophomore Zane Backes, junior Bruno Blaskovic, freshman Brendan Burns, sophomore Mikey Calvillo, junior Gabriel Fantoni, sophomore Jack Franzman, freshman Will Gallant, junior Spencer Lehman, sophomore Van Mathias, senior Mohamed Samy and junior Jacob Steele.
Indiana is one of five teams to bring at least 11 swimmers to the IUPUI Natatorium. Texas boasts the most athletes on pre-meet psych sheets with 18 swimmers. Michigan (12) is the only Big Ten Conference school to place more swimmers in the NCAA field than the Hoosiers. Ohio State is third on the conference list with seven participants.
Along with the swimmers, the IU diving team will compete for a spot on the NCAA Championship roster at the NCAA Zone C Championships in Lexington, Ky. The competition runs from March 12-14 at the Lancaster Aquatic Center.
Last season at the 2019 NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers compiled 385.5 points and a third-place finish, the second-straight season with a top-3 finish. Indiana has posted back-to-back top-3 finishes at the NCAA Championships for the first time since the program racked up top-3 finishes in 12-straight season from 1964-75.
For the fourth-straight season, Indiana finished as the top Big Ten team at the NCAA Championships – the best stretch for IU since accomplishing the feat for 15-straight seasons from 1964-78. Over the course of the NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers had 13 individuals earn a total of 38 All-America honors.
Below is a list of the 11 Hoosier swimmers who qualified for individual events at the 2020 NCAA Championships, along with their seeding in each event:
Individuals
Zane Backes – 100 Breaststroke (3rd)
Bruno Blaskovic – 50 Freestyle (3rd), 100 Freestyle (3rd), 100 Butterfly (10th)
Brendan Burns – 100 Backstroke (14th), 100 Butterfly (14th), 200 Butterfly (7th)
Mikey Calvillo – 500 Freestyle (28th), 1,650 Freestyle (10th)
Gabriel Fantoni – 100 Backstroke (6th), 200 Backstroke (9th)
Jack Franzman – 50 Freestyle (24th), 100 Freestyle (19th)
Will Gallant – 1,650 Freestyle (14th)
Spencer Lehman – 400 IM (28th)
Van Mathias – 200 Butterfly (28th), 200 IM (25th)
Mohamed Samy – 100 Freestyle (18th), 200 Freestyle (8th), 200 IM (11th)
Jacob Steele – 100 Backstroke (25th)
Relays
200 Medley Relay – 1:23.07 (3rd)
400 Medley Relay – 3:02.27 (3rd)
200 Freestyle Relay – 1:16.30 (3rd)
400 Freestyle Relay – 2:48.43 (5th)
800 Freestyle Relay – 6:15.53 (11th)
ESPN3 will live stream finals sessions Wednesday through Saturday. Preliminary sessions Thursday through Saturday will be streamed live here. Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour show at 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 5.
