The No. 3-ranked Indiana University men’s swimming and diving team began competition at the 2018 NCAA Championships on Wednesday night at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn. in record fashion.
The Hoosier 800 freestyle relay team of Blake Pieroni, Mohamed Samy, Vini Lanza and Ian Finnerty took second place with a Big Ten and IU school record time of 6:06.01. The runner-up relay finish is the best for the Hoosiers at the NCAA Championships since winning the 800 free relay in 1975.
The quartet eclipsed the previous records they set in the event last month at the Big Ten Championships by over five seconds.
Leading off for the Hoosiers, Pieroni became the first swimmer in history to break the 1:30 mark, setting the American, NCAA, NCAA Meet, U.S. Open, Big Ten, school and pool records with his blistering time of 1:29.63.
The senior will swim in three individual events at the NCAA Championships, entering as the No. 2 seed in the 200 freestyle and the No. 4 seed in the 100 freestyle.
The No. 3-ranked Indiana University Hoosiers will continue competition at the 2018 NCAA Championships on Thursday morning with the prelims of the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle and 1-meter dive. Action gets underway at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic
