Indiana vs Kentucky vs Indiana State
- Wednesday, October 6th, 2021
- Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center, Bloomington, IN
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Team Scores
Women
- Indiana – 162, Kentucky – 138
- Indiana – 253, Indiana State – 47
- Kentucky – 251, Indiana State – 49
Men
- Indiana – 171
- Kentucky – 115
Indiana hosted Kentucky and Indiana State for a double dual meet on Wednesday. The Hoosiers came out on top of Kentucky and ISU in the women’s meet, while the IU men handled Kentucky by a stark 56-point margin.
Women’s Recap:
IU freshman Mariah Denigan was electric in her first non-intrasquad meet for the Hoosiers. Denigan only competed in two races in the meet, but she did the grueling 1000 free/200 free double. Denigan kicked off her meet by leading a 1-2 IU charge in he 1000 free. The distance freestyler clocked a 9:55.13, easily outpacing the rest of the field. Coming in 2nd was fellow Hoosier Maggie Wallace, who touched in 10:02.80. Denigan then turned around, with just the men’s 1000 free in-between, she dove back in for the 200. She came in 5th in the 200, swimming a 1:50.79.
Winning the 200 free was IU freshman Anna Peplowski, who led the race from the first 50, maintaining a slight lead over Kentucky’s Riley Gaines through the finish. Peplowski touched in 1:48.21, edging out Gaines (1:48.44), who is the defending SEC champion in the event, and finished 7th at NCAAs last year. Anna Peplowski would go on to finish 3rd in the 50 free (23.19), while Gaines won the event in 23.06. Gaines also won the 100 free, swimming a 49.77, again racing Peplowski, who touched 2nd in 50.30.
Meanwhile, IU’s sprint squad is looking deeper than it has in the last few years, in part because of Peplowski’s immediate impact. Behind Peplowski, fellow Hoosiers Ashley Turak and Ella Ristic came in 3rd and 4th, both swimming 50-points as well. Turak clocked a 50.59, while Ristic touched in 50.96. That depth was on full display in the 400 free relay, where Peplowski, Turak, and Ristic teamed up with Elizabeth Broshears to win the race handily over Kentucky. Peplowski led off in 50.33, matching her individual time, while Turak and Ristic split 50.18 and 50.41 respectively, and Broshears anchored in 50.67. Their 3:21.59 final time was enough to beat Kentucky by 7 seconds.
Anna Peplowski‘s older sister, Noelle Peplowski, also won an event yesterday. Noelle took the women’s 100 breast in 1:01.33, chipping 3-tenths of a second off her time from the IU instrasquad meet this past weekend. In the 200 breast, Kentucky pulled a 1-2 punch, with Gillian Davey (2:12.36) and Bailey Bonnett (2:12.74), holding off Peplowski (2:12.92) on the final 100.
Kentucky was dominant in the backstroke events, going 1-2 in both the 100 and 200. In the 100 back, Caitlin Brooks clocked a 54.66, narrowly leading teammate Lauren Poole, who swam a 54.74. Sophie Sorenson won the 200 back in 1:58.18, while Poole again came in 2nd with a 1:59.49.
Men’s Recap:
Bruno Blaskovic made his return to competition for IU, after suffering a back fracture this past winter. The injury forced Blaskovic out of the pool for both Big Tens and NCAAs last year. In his first meet back, it looks as though the sprinter hasn’t missed a beat. He won the 50 free in 20.10, touching first by over half a second. He then led off the IU B 400 free relay in 44.10, which was the 3rd-fastest split of anyone in the field, despite coming off a flat-start.
This was Blaskovic‘s first official meet with the Hoosiers since sustaining his back injury, although he did participate in a time trial session a few weeks ago, where he swam a 20.88 50 free. Blaskovic did not compete in last weekend’s Intrasquad meet.
IU flexed its sprint depth at this meet, putting together 2 400 free relays that each swam 2:56. Freshman Rafael Miroslaw led off the A relay in 44.47. Here are Indiana’s other relay splits in order of fastest-to-slowest:
- 43.22 – Van Mathias
- 43.69 – Gavin Wight
- 44.06 – Jack Franzman
- 44.18 – Gabriel Fantoni
- 44.69 – Tomer Frankel
- 44.72 – Brandon Hamblin
- 44.80 – Tristan DeWitt
- 44.86 – Jacob Destrampe
- 45.45 – Corey Gambardella
- 45.91 (Lead-off) – Finn Brooks
Coming off stellar performances at the intrasquad last weekend, 5th year senior Gabriel Fantoni was electric yet again. The versatile sprinter kicked off his meet by leading the Hoosier’s A 200 medley relay off in 21.15, leading all backstrokers by nearly a second. He used that backstroke speed to pull away from the field in the 100 back, swimming a 46.43. Fantoni then made it a backstroke sweep, posting a 1:48.26 for the win in the 200 back. Although Fantoni won, it was teammate Jacob Steele who swam the fastest time in the 200 back, clocking a 1:45.70, but he swam exhibition. Steele also swam exhibition in the 100 back, swimming a 47.79.
Indiana’s breaststroke squad is at it again, and yesterday, it was the freshmen who led the way. Freshman Luke Barr won the 100 breast in 55.48. Like Steele in the 200 back, it was actually sophomore Max Reich who led the field, swimming a 54.99, but he swam exhibition. Barr would go on to win the 200 IM in 1:48.59. Another freshman, Josh Matheny, took the 200 breast in 2:00.69, narrowly missing breaking 2:00 again, after doing so at the intrasquad last weekend.
Another IU 5th year, Corey Gambardella, picked up a win on the day as well. Gambardella clocked a 1:46.14, pulling away from Kentucky’s Mason Wilby on the middle 100.
IU’s Mikey Calvillo was another double event winner on the day, taking both the men’s 500 free and 1000 free. In the 500, Calvillo was the only swimmer in the field to crack 4:30, posting a 4:27.39. The race was a little closer in the 1000, where Calvillo swam a 9:12.38, coming in 4 seconds ahead of Kentucky’s Jakob Clark, who swam a 9:16.10.
