The No. 11 Indiana men’s swimming and diving team tamed the No. 17 Northwestern Wildcats in a 161-139 conquest in Evanston, Ill., on Dec. 2. Overall, the Hoosiers claimed 11 titles to improve to 4-2 (2-1 Big Ten) on the season. Remarkably, junior Colin Russell turned in a stellar time of 1:35.50 to break his own school record in the 200-yard freestyle and punch his ticket to Atlanta, Ga., for the NCAA Championships March 23-25 with an A-cut time. “It was a nice win against a very good team,” Indiana head coach Ray Looze said. “Obviously, Colin had a great meet following his Commonwealth Games Trials highlighted by breaking the school record in the 200-yard freestyle. It was a good meet overall. Sergiy Fesenko had an outstanding meet and Nick Walkotten also swam well.” In the opening event of the evening, the Hoosier contingent of sophomore Ben Hesen, senior Kevin Swander, sophomore Todd Patrick and Russell nailed down a B-cut time of 1:28.98 to capture the 200-yard medley relay crown for IU. Notably, the time is the ninth fastest in school history in the event. Meanwhile, the Indiana quartet of freshman A.J. Miller, sophomore Ronald Hehn, junior Scott Tanner and sophomore Alec Haley finished third in 1:33.83. The Northwestern squad of Matt Grevers, Mike Alexandrov, Kyle Bubolz and Ben Dexter placed second in 1:29.05. With the one-three finish, the Hoosiers took a 13-4 lead. In the 1,000-yard freestyle, the Hoosiers blew by the Wildcat with a top-two sweep as senior Sergiy Fesenko clocked the second-fastest time in school history with a 9:00.89, while sophomore Alex Brunfeldt became the 10th-fastest Hoosier in the event with a personal-best 9:17.89 for second. Northwestern’s Brian Davis took third with a 9:25.79. Also of note, freshman Steffan Troxel recorded a career-low time of 9:31.88 for fourth place. After the event, IU held a commanding 28-8 advantage. The 200-yard freestyle belonged to Russell as he raced to a school-record time of 1:35.50, which also eclipsed the NCAA automatic qualifying time. Northwestern rounded out the top three as Eric Nilsson placed second in 1:40.78 and Gavin D’Amico took third in 1:41.96. Indiana remained in the lead, 38-17. In the 100-yard backstroke, the Wildcat countered as Grevers pulled away for first in 48.25. Meanwhile, Hesen powered to second for IU in 49.29, while Eric Simpson placed third for NU in 51.46. Notably, freshman A.J. Miller touched in a personal-best time of 52.38. With the effort, Northwestern closed the gap to 42-32. In the 100-yard breaststroke, the Wildcats cut the Hoosier lead to 47-46 with a one-three effort. Alexandrov touched first in 53.65, while Swander placed second in 56.32 and NU’s John Franklin took third in 58.10. In the 200-yard butterfly, Fesenko seized his second event title with a first-place 1:48.32, while Nilsson finished second for the Wildcats in 1:54.27 and teammate Andy Long took third in 1:54.56. The effort pushed IU’s lead to 57-55. In the 50-yard freestyle, Russell snared his third crown of the meet with a B-cut time of 20.03, while Grevers placed second in 20.44 and Bubolz took third in 20.93. With the performance, Indiana inched ahead 67-64. In the 100-yard freestyle, the Hoosiers extended their lead to 78-72. Patrick (45.27) touched out Bubolz (45.67) for the victory, while Northwestern’s Ben Dexter finished third in 46.13. In the 200-yard backstroke, Northwestern bounced back with a win as Grevers placed first in 1:43.78, while Simpson finished second in 1:51.77. Hesen led the Hoosiers with a third-place 1:51.92. Also of note, sophomore John Kevin Koehler recorded a personal-best time of 1:52.73 in non-scoring action. At the end of the event, NU jumped ahead 85-84. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Alexandrov finished first in 1:57.39, while Swander placed second in 2:06.99 and Northwestern’s Franklin placed third in 2:07.36. Northwestern stretched its lead to 98-90 in the event. The Hoosiers returned fire in the 500-yard freestyle as Fesenko posted his third title-winning performance of the meet with a B-cut time of 4:26.61, while Brunfeldt touched third in 4:34.91. Davis split the difference to NU in 4:34.47. The Hoosiers cut the advantage to 105-102 with the 500 free effort. Indiana squared the meet at 113-113 in the 100-yard butterfly as freshman Nick Walkotten won the event in 49.82, while Northwestern’s Bubolz (50.12) and Charlie Cunnick (50.91) finished two-three. In the 200-yard IM, the Wildcats responded to take a 127-118 advantage. Alexandrov touched first in 1:49.36, while Swander finished second in 1:53.97. NU’s D’Amico rounded out the top three with a 1:54.76. Meanwhile, IU’s Miller clocked a career-best time of 1:54.59. The Hoosiers powered past Northwestern to win the swimming portion of the evening, 133-129, in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a first-place time of 3:01.47 by the team of junior Lee Houchin, Patrick, Walkotten and Russell. Meanwhile, IU’s squad of senior Mike Jones, Koehler, junior Paul Sigfusson and freshman Jeff Wood placed second in 3:13.25. Northwestern’s quartet of Hayden, Long, Daniel Walls and Dmitri Kouzmine took third in 3:18.20. Indiana then added in a dominant diving performance. In the one-meter, the Hoosiers went one-two as senior Ryan Fagan triumphed with a 320.33 tally, while junior Brian Mariano placed second with a 274.65 total. Northwestern’s Ryan McIntosh finished third with a 273.15. In the three-meter event, senior Jesse Rappaport posted a career-high 337.05 to claim the crown, while Fagan finished third with a 306.45. McIntosh split the Hoosiers with a second-place 308.76. At the end of the diving competition, Indiana secured a 161-139 conquest of the Wildcats. Next up, the Hoosiers head to Nassau, Bahamas for their winter training trip from Dec. 29-Jan. 5. During that time, they will face Michigan State on Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. The No. 18 Indiana women’s swimming and diving team closed out Northwestern, 159-141, in Evanston, Ill., with a relay win in the final race of the evening on Dec. 2. The Hoosiers captured seven titles to improve to 5-2 (3-1 Big Ten) on the season. Freshman Allison Kay, junior Annica Lofstedt and junior Leila Vaziri led IU with three titles each. “We had to pull it out by winning in the last relay,” Indiana head coach Ray Looze said. “Allison Kay, Annica Lofstedt and Kristen Bradley all swam really well. It was a tough meet.” In the opening event of the meet, the Hoosiers jumped out to a 13-4 lead when the contingent of Vaziri, freshman Sarah Stockwell, Kay and Lofstedt claimed the 400-yard medley relay crown in 3:48.91. Meanwhile, the team of junior Susanna Ernst, freshman Kristy Winck, freshman Kristin Cihoski and freshman Abby Cooper finished third in 3:58.06. The Northwestern quartet of Katie Paglini, Hayley Fry, Rotem Peled and Michelle Oeser placed second in 3:53.57. The Hoosiers moved out to a 28-8 advantage in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a one-two sweep as senior Kristen Bradley touched first in 10:15.04, while classmate Lauren Torpey finished second in 1:19.65. NU’s Amy Mueller rounded out the top three with a 10:29.59. Northwestern cut the lead to 36-19 in the 200-yard freestyle as Andrea Hupman took the title with a 1:51.11. Meanwhile, senior Doherty Colgin (1:52.90) and junior Clarissa Wentworth (1:56.05) picked up second and third, respectively. In the 100-yard backstroke, Vaziri raced to a 56.89 time for first place, while Cihoski placed third in 1:00.03. NU’s Paglini split the different with a 57.20 time for second. At the end of the event, the Hoosiers led 50-24. Also of note, freshman Caitlin Heyman posted a personal-best time of 1:00.76 in a non-scoring effort. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Northwestern chipped the lead away to 56-37 with a one-two finish. Jessie Bailis claimed first with a 1:04.70, while Fry placed second in 1:04.99. Meanwhile, Stockwell took third for IU in 1:05.71, while freshman Mary Elizabeth Miller tied her career-low with a 1:08.84. In the 200-yard butterfly, Indiana extended its lead to 67-45 as Kay improved her own eighth-fastest time in school history with a B-cut time of 2:01.20 for the win. Northwestern’s Katie Braun (2:02.00) and Peled (2:07.80) rounded out the top three for the Wildcats. In the 50-yard freestyle, the Hoosiers inched ahead 77-54 when Lofstedt touched first in 23.58. Hupman finished just behind with a second-place 23.81, while Oeser took third in 24.50. In the 100-yard freestyle, Northwestern cut the gap to 82-68 as Hupman claimed the crown in 50.54 and Lofstedt took second in a B-cut time of 50.76. Meanwhile, NU’s Sara Petric placed third in 53.77. The Wildcats continued to shave the IU advantage in the 200-yard backstroke as the Hoosiers held on to a 90-79 lead after the event. Paglini won the event in 2:01.38, while Vaziri (2:02.98) and Ernst (2:09.55) finished second and third, respectively, for Indiana. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Indiana own a slim 98-90 lead over the hard-charging Wildcats as Fry earned another event title for NU in 2:22.29, while IU’s Stockwell touched just behind in 2:22.77. Cooper closed out the top three for Indiana in 2:22.93. The Hoosiers responded by dropping the hammer in the 500-yard freestyle with a top-three sweep. Colgin blazed to a 4:59.09 time for first, while Bradley finished second in 5:00.05 and Torpey took third in 5:01.13. After the event, IU led 114-93. In the 100-yard butterfly, the pesky Wildcats refused to go away quietly as they cut the gap to 122-104. Braun captured the event title in 55.40, while Kay (55.93) and Cihoski (57.96) placed second and third for the Hoosiers. Notably, Heyman recorded a personal-best time of 1:02.06 in a non-scoring capacity. In the 200-yard IM, Northwestern closed to within 128-117 with another top-two sweep as Paglini won in 2:04.54 and Braun placed second in 2:05.47. Bradley rounded out the top three as the top Hoosier with a 2:06.24. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Hoosiers salted away the swimming portion of the evening as Vaziri, Colgin, Lofstedt and Kay raced to first place in 3:26.09, while Torpey, Miller, Bradley and Wentworth took third in 3:36.89. Meanwhile, Northwestern’s Hupman, Petric, Braun and Oeser finished second in 3:27.84. At the end of swimming competition, Indiana led 141-121. Indiana head diving coach Dr. Jeff Huber’s charges managed to hold on to the lead in the diving portion of competition, even though Northwestern’s Chelsea Davis claimed both boards on the evening. On the one-meter, Davis won the event with a 301.73 tally, while sophomore Christina Loukas finished second with a 288.23 total and senior Lisa Silvestri took third with a 261.23. On the three-meter, Davis took another title with a 312.81, while Loukas placed second with a 301.80 and junior Lindsay Weigle closed out the top three with a 295.13. With diving points included, the Hoosiers managed to hold off Northwestern, 159-141. Next up, the Hoosiers head to Nassau, Bahamas for their winter training trip from Dec. 29-Jan. 5. During that time, they will face Michigan State on Jan. 1 at 4 p.m.