Indiana swimmers, fueled by coach's daughter, take USA titles
Swimmers at Indiana University could perhaps become deflated. They cannot achieve any firsts.
Everything has been done: Olympic gold medals, world records, world championships, national championships, NCAA championships.
Wait. Scratch that first sentence.
An Indiana program rich in tradition has achieved two firsts: first place in combined and women’s team scoring at a summer USA Championships.
“Those are two things we’ve never done at Indiana. I feel pretty confident saying that,” coach Ray Looze said.
USA Swimming has no record of it.
Competing as Indiana Swim Club, the Hoosiers’ college swimmers capped the five-day nationals at Irvine, Calif., with combined and women’s team titles Saturday night.
“Indiana swimming is on the rise, no question,” Looze said. “We’ve got some new Olympic hopefuls emerging. I’m really excited with where we are and where we’re going.”
It was a nationals lacking many of the sport’s stars, who were coming off June’s World Championships at Budapest, Hungary. Yet that didn’t exactly help Indiana Swim Club, which was without pro breaststrokers Lilly King and Annie Lazor.
And national powers such as California, Texas and Florida were represented. ISC won the women’s title by 163-152 ½ over Gator Swim Club, which featured 60 points from 25-year-old Katie Ledecky, winner of 26 gold medals at Olympics and worlds.
“Our little college girls still held them off. I’m stoked,” Looze said.
ISC had 283½ combined points to 249 for Cal Aquatics. In men’s scoring, Cal Aquatics was first with 176½ and ISC second with 120½.
Three Indiana swimmers were national champions – Zach Apple, Josh Matheny and Mackenzie Looze – and five scored 20 or more points:
>> Zach Apple, 23.5 points. The 25-year-old pro tied for first in the 100-meter freestyle in 48.44 seconds. It was redemptive for Apple, who did not make the world team after anchoring two relay teams to golds at the 2021 Olympics.
>> Mariah Denigan, 58 points. The 19-year-old was second to Ledecky in the 800 freestyle and also second in the 1,500 freestyle. Denigan was 15th in the open-water 10K at worlds.
>> Josh Matheny, 32 points. The 19-year-old won the 100 breaststroke in 59.44, climbing to 11th on the all-time U.S. list. He is one of four Hoosiers in the top 13. “There’s a lot of things about Bloomington that are special,” Matheny said. “The breaststroke group, it’s a super close and interesting group. I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of them.”
>> Anna Peplowski, 36 points. She was top eight in the 200 freestyle and both backstrokes.
>> Mackenzie Looze, 39 points. She won the 200 breaststroke, finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke and was ninth in the 200 and 400 individual medleys.
The Looze father/daughter storyline was irresistible. The coach was shown exulting in the aftermath of Mackenzie’s national title.
“We really get each other, I think,” the daughter said. “Him in himself is a really grounding energy for me. So just being able to walk up to him before a race, I can really just feed off him and his energy and know that I’m going to be OK and everything is going to be all right.”
The 200 breaststroke lacked King, the reigning world champion; Lazor, the Olympic bronze medalist; Lydia Jacoby, Olympic champion in the 100 breast, and Kate Douglass, worlds bronze medalist.
It was nonetheless rewarding for Mackenzie Looze, who dropped her time by more than two seconds to 2:25.35 Wednesday night. She came into the meet on a high note, having been selected to Team USA for the Duel in the Pool at Australia on Aug. 19-21.
“All of the sudden, I’m sobbing in my car. Just so insanely shocked that I get this opportunity to represent the USA for the first time,” Mackenzie said.
She might have retired from the sport after March but is using the pandemic waiver to come back for a fifth college season in 2023.
There will be a strong Hoosier presence, both from Indiana natives and IU swimmers, in the U.S. Olympic Trials set for June 2024 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU swimming: Mackenzie Looze leads ISC to women, combined titles
