INDIANAPOLIS—Today was a special day at the Ruth Lilly Fitness Center for UIndy swimming & diving programs. Not only was it Senior Day where 29 seniors would say goodbye, but the team had the great honor of continuing the legacy of Nick Dworet in the Swim4Nick Memorial Meet which saw the Greyhounds take down Division III-power Denison by scores of 167-133 (women) and 207-92 (men).
SWIM4NICK
Five years ago on the first weekend in January, Nick Dworet, a swimmer for TS Aquatics in Florida that had dreams of representing Sweden in the Olympics, came on an official visit to the University of Indianapolis. He committed to the Greyhounds swimming & diving program, and the rest of the UIndy family did the same to him. A month later, the high school senior had his life taken from him along with 16 others in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Five years later, UIndy still honors the fallen swimmer each and every day, and most especially at the now annual Swim4Nick Memorial Meet. With Nick's parents Mitchel and Annika in attendance, the Greyhounds wore "Swim4Nick" gear to show love for the 2018 commit who leaves behind an inspiring legacy of hard work and dedication that could be seen in and out of the pool.
SENIOR SEND-OFF
The significance of the game was further boosted by the team's annual Senior Day festivities. During the first break, UIndy honored 30 seniors for their hard work and dedication to the program. The list included
Serge Ahadzhanian,
Faith Atkinson,
Sydney Balint,
Matt Bond,
Johanna Buys,
Lina Caudill,
Stanislaw Chalat,
Emilia Colti-Dumitrescu,
Karolina Dubcakova,
Derek Elam,
Cade Hammond,
Christian Hedeen,
Noah Jamison,
Eric Kelm,
Jason Lenzo,
Bekah Letcher,
Efren Martinez,
Diego Mas,
Kaitlyn McCoy,
Liki Prema,
Drew Reinke,
Leticia Vaselli,
Anahi Schreuders,
Joao Silva,
Ben Souza,
Mikaela Starr,
Bartek Swiderski,
Jeron Thompson,
Andras Tiszai and
Kael Yorke.
IN THE POOL
The Hound welcomed DIII's No. 3-ranked women's team and eighth-ranked men, as the Denison Big Red brought some legit speedsters to the Ruth Lilly Center pool. Nevertheless, UIndy racked up a combined 25 wins in 32 events.
Kaitlyn McCoy led all student-athletes with three individuals. She touched first in both backstroke events before taking the 200 IM by nearly five seconds.
Cedric Buessing (200 back, 200 IM),
Christian Hedeen (200 free, 500 free) and
Serge Ahadzhanian each notched a pair of individual victories, with the latter tacking on a relay win.
In fact, UIndy swept both relay events, with
Johanna Buys,
Leticia Vaselli and
Julia Magierowska and
Diego Mas and
Jeron Thompson contributing in both the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay wins.
The Greyhounds took the top three spots in both 50-yard sprints. On the men's side, the trio of Mas (20.41),
Joao Silva (20.60) and Thompson (20.81) went 1-2-3, finishing within four-tenths of each other. Silva, meanwhile, also won the 100 free, while
Austin Kehr was the runner-up.
Other highlights included wins from
Hanna Burke (200 fly),
Sam Reiger (100 back),
Liki Prema (100 breast), Matthew Bond (200 breast) and
Stanislaw Chalat (1000 free).
Over in the diving well, UIndy dominated their guests with wins in all four events with wins coming from four different Greyhounds. The Undy women finished 1-2-3 on the 1-meter springboard, with
Mikaela Starr's point total of 256.87 good to the win.
Reigning national-champ
Cade Hammond (299.10) took first on the men's 1-meter, followed by All-American teammate
Jason Lenzo. The two switched spots on the 3-meter, with Lenzo's total of 284.7 edging Hammond's 278.92.
Alexis Lumaj (252.07) won the women's 3-meter, followed closely by Starr in second.
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds will travel north next weekend for a big meet at Eastern Michigan University. Grand Valley State and Findlay will also be competing. The event is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. in Ypsilanti, Mich.
