INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy swimming and diving teams kicked off their 2016-17 season in convincing fashion Friday night, defeating visiting DePauw at the Ruth Lilly Center. The Greyhound women cruised to a 179-100 victory, while the men notched a 187-104 win.
 
"It was a good first meet," said head coach Jason Hite. "It's was good chance to see where we are starting right off the bat. It was an especially good chance to see where our freshmen are in their first time to really compete, and that's exciting. We got some great performances by them (the freshman) on both sides – men and women."
 
Including the relays, the aforementioned UIndy rookies combined to win 12 events in all, with Sotia Neophytou, Mary Niklarz, Danielle Wood, Ante Lucev and Payton Staman all winning a pair of events.
 
Staman and fellow-diver Josh Zylstra in particular both impressed on the diving boards. The duo went 1-2 on both heights, with Staman's score of 283.13 on the 3-meter falling just shy of an NCAA B-cut.
 
"The divers were definitely one of the highlights of the meet," added Hite. "What Josh and Payton did on the boards really showed why we brought them here: to have an incredible diving program to go along with our incredible swimming programming.
 
"And then to have these young ladies (divers Whitney Weileman, Ashley Clevenger and Kristen Gushrowski), who don't have a lot of diving background, to hop up there and after just a short four or five weeks to already be popping up, that's great to see.
 
"I'm excited about what the year's going to bring, and it's a good start for us."
 
Sophomore Vitor Botana picked up right where he left off last season. The All-American set a B-cut in his very first individual race of the year, winning the 1000 free with a time of 9:32.19. Meanwhile, junior Malvina Shoukri won three races on the night – the 100 back, 50 free and 100 free.
 
Up next, the Greyhounds head downtown for a dual meet at IUPUI Thursday, Oct. 6.