The University of Indianapolis men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed against nine teams from Friday, Nov. 21, to Sunday, Nov. 23, at the House of Champions Meet in Indianapolis.
The men won the three-day meet while the women took a fifth place finish out of ten teams.
For the men, seniors Doron Benjamin, Aaron Stevenson and Justin Rossillo, and junior Marius Bornkessel won the 400 free relay with school-record time of 2:59.32. The foursome also won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:12.56. Rossillo also achieved two individual victories with a meet record time of 45.16 in the 100 free and a 20.26 finish in the 50 free.
The men’s 800 free relay team, made up of Bornkessel, junior Dawid Rybinksi, sophomore Brandon Norman and senior Daniel Chen, earned a winning time of 6:44.35.
Chan also claimed first place in the 200 fly with a time of 1:49.42, while freshman Sean Yeh swam a meet-record time of 55.51 in the 100 breaststroke.
Senior Justin Rossillo comes up for a breath in the middle of a race while doing the butterfly stroke. Photos contributed by Laken Detweiler
Senior Tyler Offutt scored 242.5 points to take a fifth place finish in the 1-meter dive and also claimed sixth place in the 3-meter dive.
For the women, sophomore Agnieszka won the 200 back consolation final with a time of 2:06.78. Freshman Malvina Shoukri, junior Hannah Schuster, senior Hayley Good and sophomore Shea Hanley achieved a third-place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:36.54.
Schuster and Hanley, along with senior Risa Ricard and junior Ana Couto placed fourth in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:42.93. Junior Natelie Todd achieved a top ten finish in the 3-meter dive, while also earning an 11th place finish in the 1-meter dive.
The House of Champions meet took place at the IU Natatorium, where UIndy competed against NCAA Division I schools such as IUPUI, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the University of Evansville, Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and Butler University. Other NCAA Division II teams that participated in the event alongside UIndy included Lewis University and Bellarmine University, while Centre College represented Division III.
Prior to the meet, both of UIndy’s squads were listed in the first NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Team Rankings of the season. The women were tied for the No. 17 rank, while the men were listed in the 13th position inside the top-25 poll, as decided by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
Sophomore Karolina Szymaskzek of the women’s team said the Greyhounds have been working very hard, and she feels more focused on her goals this season.
“[Last year] I didn’t really know what to expect [going into the season],” she said. “This year, [however,] I am more focused on knowing what I can do and how I can do better in practices than I did last year.”
Head Swimming and Diving Coach Gary Kinkead said that both teams have shown good motivation this season so far and that the House of Champions was a good challenge for them.
To prepare for the House of Champions, the teams had no morning practices and afternoon practices were not as difficult as they previously had been, before the week of the meet. Kinkead said that the reason for that was so the swimmers and divers could recover and rest, to be at their best headed into the meet.
“Swimming is a difficult sport,” he said. “People don’t realize how difficult of a sport it is. Physiologists equate swimming 5,000 yards a day to running a marathon, and we usually go anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 yards a day. So we go significantly more than that.”
Both teams will take a break for the rest of the semester, Kinkead said, and they will return to campus on Dec. 29 to begin practicing for the remainder of the season.
The Greyhounds will return to competition on Jan. 10 in Hillsdale, Mich., when the men will compete against Wabash College, and the women will compete against Hillsdale College. The meet is set to start at 1 p.m.
