The Ohio State men’s swimming and diving team opened up its dual meet against conference rival Indiana with a sweep of first through third place in the 200 medley relay.
That performance turned out to be a resounding statement for the rest of the competition. The No. 12 Buckeyes dominated the No. 20 Hoosiers from start to finish, winning by a score of 224-74 to improve to 6-0 on the season.
For the second week in a row, senior Joel Elber and sophomore Andrew Elliott each scored a pair of individual victories. Additionally, senior Stefan Sigrist and junior Elliott Keefer also had two wins. The team had this meet on their mind ever since their close loss to the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind., last season, Elber said.
“It was a close meet last year so we’ve been looking forward to this meet for a year,” he said. “There’s always tension [against Indiana] and it’s always a bit personal. There’s a lot of emotion involved.”
Elber capped off a brilliant first half of the meet for the Buckeyes by winning the 50 free in 20.52, leaving the score 105-26 at intermission.
“I’m always happy with a win. I concentrate on winning. Times will come,” Elber said. “I’m right where I should be [in terms of times]; there are always technical things I can work on though.”
Coach Bill Wadley was focused more on the task at hand as opposed to any rivalry that might exist between the two teams.
“The objective every meet is the same,” Wadley said. “Obviously IU is a Big Ten school and they’re very good and very well-coached. Today we happened to have a good meet.”
The Buckeyes won every event for the second meet in a row and took first, second and third place in nine of the races. Elber, one of 14 seniors who had never previously beaten Indiana in a dual meet, was extremely proud of the team’s performance.
“This is one of our tune-ups for Big Ten’s and the first top 20 team we’ve faced this year,” said Elber. “We rose to the occasion and avenged what we did last year.”
Wadley was satisfied with the entire team’s performance, but acknowledged that there were some standout individual accomplishments.
“Keefer was outstanding, Elliott has been consistent the whole year, it seems you can count on him every time,” Wadley said. “Stefan steps up every time he races; when you got four guys getting two wins apiece every meet, that’s special.”
The Buckeyes’ impressive victory should give them a confidence boost when they take to the pool again in two weeks and welcome Penn State, Michigan and Nor
thwestern to Columbus. Wadley said two weeks of practice will put the Buckeyes in great shape and in a position to win.
“Hopefully two weeks from now we’re even faster.”
