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National Collegiate Swimmer-of-the-Week

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.: Indiana Sweeps Women's Big Ten Weekly Accolades

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. , November 1st, 2006

Indiana's Leila Vaziri and Christina Loukas were named the Big  Ten  Swimmer  of  the  Week  and Diver of the Week, respectively, the league office announced Oct. 31. Vaziri  and  Loukas  were  instrumental  in  leading  the  Hoosiers  to  a  pair  of  wins  on  the week.  Indiana  topped  Big  Ten  rival  Northwestern  on  Oct.  27,  174-120,  and  topped Arizona State on Oct. 28, 155-134. Vaziri finished either first or second in all eight events she entered in Indiana's wins over Northwestern and Arizona State on the week. The Coral Springs, Fla., senior posted five NCAA  "B"  cuts,  doing  so  in  the  100-yard  freestyle,  200-yard  freestyle  and  100-yard butterfly  against  the  Wildcats,  and  in  the  100-yard  backstroke and 100 free against the Sun Devils. Vaziri's 54.74 in the 100 back against ASU was nearly an A cut, all the more  impressive  given  that  she  had  not  competed  in  the  event  this  season  prior  to Saturday.  She  finished  second  in  the  100  free  on  Friday  to  Northwestern's  AndreaHupman, who was an honorable mention All-American in the event last season. The award is the third of Vaziri's career, and first this season. "Leila had a wonderful couple of meets against Northwestern and Arizona State," Indianahead coach Ray Looze said. "She's really setting herself up to be one of the national titlecontenders  in  the 100 backstroke, and also a very strong candidate in the freestyles, aswell." Loukas swept the springboards in both meets last week, taking both the one-meter andthe three-meter against Northwestern and Arizona State. Against the Wildcats on Oct. 27,the Riverwoods, Ill., junior took the one-meter with a score of 293.32 and the three-meterwith a 319.80 mark. Against the Sun Devils on Oct. 28, Loukas posted a score of 321.60to win the one-meter, then turned in a 360.90 effort in the three-meter, good for the eventwin and the third-best score in IU history. The award is the fifth of Loukas' career, and second in a row this season. "It was well deserved," head diving coach Dr. Jeff Huber said. "They're working hard,and hard work always pays off. I was pleased, and we looked good for this time of year,better than we did last year, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us. It's nice to get alittle pat on the back, but we want to be the best, so it's going to take a lot more effort."  Indiana returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 4, when it will face No. 11 Texas in Austin,Texas.