Indiana

Indiana Men Win 4th Straight Big 10 Title With Largest Margin of Victory In Conference History

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1 year ago

March 2, 2025

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Indiana Men Win 4th Straight Big 10 Title With Largest Margin of Victory In Conference History

2025 MEN’S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dates: Wednesday, February 26–Saturday, March 1
Location: Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center, Minneapolis, MN
Defending champions: Indiana men (3x)
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Teams: Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, USC*, Wisconsin
Recaps:

The Indiana men’s swimming and diving team won its fourth consecutive Big Ten Men’s Championship on Saturday night in Minneapolis. Despite welcoming a new team to the conference, Indiana’s 448-point margin of victory is the largest in Big Ten history.

Indiana scored 1579 points to win this year’s title, with Michigan earning 1148 for second and Ohio State placing third with 1100.

The Hoosiers opened and closed the meet with Big Ten records. In the first event, Luke Barr, Brian Benzing, Finn Brooks, and Matt King swam 1:21.39, breaking the conference record in the 200-medley relay and jumping out to the lead. The team held a two-point lead over USC after the first night and though they were briefly out of first during the second finals session, they had regained their lead by the end of the session and built from there.

With victory assured, Owen McDonald, Mikkel Lee, Dylan Smiley, and King sealed the 31st championship in team history by breaking the Big Ten 400 freestyle relay record in 2:45.62. McDonald also took down Tyler Clary’s long-standing 200 backstroke conference record with a 1:37.15.

Indiana Event Winners:

200 medley relay: Barr, Benzing, Brooks, King — 1:21.39 Big Ten Record
500 freestyle: Zalan Sarkany, junior — 4:11.62
200 IM: Owen McDonald, junior — 1:39.89 Championship Record
1-meter diving: Quinn Henniger, seinor — 414.85
100 breaststroke: Finn Brooks, senior — 49.94 Championship Record
100 backstroke: Owen McDonald, junior — 44.38
400 medley relay: McDonald, Brooks, Frankel, King — 2:59.87 Championship Record
1650 freestyle: Zalan Sarkany, junior — 14:38.01
200 backstroke: Owen McDonald, junior — 1:37.15 Big Ten Record
200 breaststroke: Josh Matheny, senior — 1:49.83
400 freestyle relay: McDonald, Lee, Smiley, King — 2:45.62 Big Ten Record

McDonald Is part of a high-powered transfer class that made a big impact for the Hoosiers at these championships. McDonald and Zalan Sarkany, both ASU transfers, were the team’s highest scorers at the championship, earning 96 and 87 points, respectively. McDonald swept his individual events, while Sarkany won the 500/1650 freestyle. Further, each of the team’s three relay wins had at least one transfer on the team whether it was McDonald, Brian Benzing, or Matt King.

Diving continues to be a strength for the Hoosiers, with Quinn Henninger and Carson Tyler also in the top-five individual points scorers for the team. Senior Finn Brooks scored 84 points, third-best on the team and first among returning swimmers. On the back half of a 100 fly/100 breaststroke double, he swam a lifetime best and championship record of 49.94 in the 100 breaststroke.

Indiana’s breaststroke group was one of the team’s strongest disciplines, showcasing exactly why they earned the “Breaststroke U” nickname. Led by Brooks, the Hoosiers went 1-2-3-4-5 in the 100 breaststroke as the senior was followed by Benzing, Josh Matheny, Caspar Corbeau, and Jassen Yep. The team backed up that incredible depth in the 200 breast, as Matheny, Yep, Toby Barnett, and Corbeau placed 1-2-3-4 in that event.

Indiana not only flexed its depth on this season’s roster at this meet, but it also showed its consistency across program history. This was most on display during the 400 medley relay, as the team of McDonald, Brooks, Tomer Frankel, and King earned the team’s 10th straight conference victory in the event.

Indiana Individual Point Scorers:

Owen McDonald, junior — 96 points
Zalan Sarkany, junior — 87 points
Finn Brooks, senior — 84 points
Quinn Henniger, senior — 84 points
Carson Tyler, senior — 80 points
Miroslav Knedla, freshman — 79 points
Luke Barr, senior — 73 points
Jassen Yep, fifth-year — 73 points
Tomer Frankel, fifth-year — 69 points
Max Weinrich, junior — 68 points
Dylan Smiley, sophomore — 66 points
Caspar Corbeau, fifth-year — 63 points
Josh Matheny, senior — 59 points
Brian Benzing, fifth-year — 58 points
Toby Barnett, sophomore — 56 points
Matt King, junior — 55 points
Rafael Miroslaw, senior — 50 points
Mikkel Lee, sophomore — 40 points
Gavin Wight, fifth-year — 23 points
Joshua Sollenberger, freshman — 20 points

This is the team’s 31st Big Ten Championship in program history and its seventh in the last nine years. Next, the team turns its attention to next month’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Washington. There, the Hoosiers have their sights set on the team’s first overall NCAA Championship title since 1973.

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Indiana

Police arrest suspect in Westfield homicide

Published

30 minutes ago

March 27, 2026

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Police arrest suspect in Westfield homicide

WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Police have arrested someone in connection to a homicide earlier this month in the Hamilton County city.

In a Friday night social media post, the Westfield Police Department announced the arrest but gave no details, including who was arrested or what preliminary charges the person may face.

“Due to the active nature of this case, limited details are available for release at this time,” the post said.

As WISHTV.com previously reported, James “Matt” Lushin, 47, was found dead shortly after 7:25 p.m. March 12 with trauma at his home in the 3900 block of Westfield Road, also known as State Road 32.

Social media posts from the scene showed police tape and emergency vehicles at a red brick house between Shady Nook Road and Gray Road.

Lushin’s obituary said the Kokomo native was a key partner with the real estate investment company, FLF Property. The obituary also said, “Matt was also a respected and accomplished member of the international poker community. He traveled the world competing in tournaments and built an impressive and successful career.”

Police have previously said the death was believed to be isolated, posing no ongoing threat.

Officials have not released a specific cause or manner of death.

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Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

Published

13 hours ago

March 27, 2026

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Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

Just three days before Selection Sunday in March of 2020, the NCAA announced that March Madness, like so many other events that spring, would be cancelled due to the new virus upending life. The decision marked the first time in tournament history that the final weeks of the college basketball season would not be played, squashing Atlanta’s plans to host the Final Four.

When the following year rolled around, the NCAA decided that March Madness would not succumb to the virus once more.

With a vaccine only on the horizon and hundreds of Americans still dying each day, the organization announced in November of 2020 that while the tournament would go on, it would certainly not be business as usual. All 67 games, NCAA officials said, would be held in one location. Central Indiana was the first choice as Indianapolis had been on tap to host the Final Four April 3-5.

The plan, said NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt in a November 2020 IndyStar article was to present “a safe, responsible and fantastic March Madness tournament unlike any other we’ve experienced.”

In January the NCAA made it official: All games would be played in and around Indianapolis in a modified version of a bubble.

Holding the tournament in one place just made sense, NCAA officials told IndyStar. Unlike in a typical year when a winning team would travel multiple times before the championship, this system would minimize travel, which could inadvertently expose players and coaches to the virus.

Two months later when the tournament kicked off on March 18, 55 of the 67 games were scheduled to be played in Indianapolis venues, such as Gainbridge (then Bankers Life) Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. Purdue’s Mackey Arena and IU’s Assembly Hall also hosted games.

While the first Covid vaccine had arrived a few months earlier, few people outside of first responders and the most vulnerable had been immunized, so in an effort to avoid large crowds, the Indianapolis sites all capped tickets at 25% capacity. That meant only 17,500 people could attend games at the largest venue, Lucas Oil Stadium. The college arenas allowed far smaller audiences, with IU limiting attendance to 500 people.

A week before the tournament began Marion County Public Health Department officials and Mayor Joe Hogsett asked attendees to make smart public health choices, such as social distancing and obeying the face masks mandate. Referees donned masks as much as possible as did coaches and players on the bench.

The NCAA regularly tested athletes, administering 28,311 tests Covid tests during the tournament, 15 of which came back positive.

Post-mortems after the tournament asked whether the NCAA had made the right call. Two high profile deaths occurred in the aftermath of the tournament — one a University of Alabama superfan who had traveled to Indy for the games and the other a St. Elmo bartender. But proving a direct link between their deaths and the tournament would prove impossible, and some public health experts said the NCAA had done everything it could to protect athletes and fans short of canceling the event.

A study conducted by IU, Regenstrief researchers and others that appeared in August 2021 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while mask wearing had theoretically been compulsory, about a quarter of attendees at the games were either not wearing masks or doing so inappropriately. Still, in an IndyStar article about the study Indiana Sports Corps president Ryan Vaughn termed the event “a resounding success.”

The following year, with a vaccine widely available and far fewer daily deaths from the virus, the tournament returned to a typical schedule, concluding in New Orleans’ Ceasars Superdome. More than 69,00 fans attended the final games, according to the NCAA. Local authorities had lifted the mask requirement by this point.

“Last year was about survival. Just having championships in any way, single site, keep everybody safe and be successful,” Gavitt said in an NCAA news release in late April 2022. “I think this year was about advancing.”

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Federal legislation that Braun calls ‘crazy’ is aimed at Bears and Indiana – Indianapolis Business Journal

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1 day ago

March 26, 2026

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Federal legislation that Braun calls ‘crazy’ is aimed at Bears and Indiana – Indianapolis Business Journal

U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Greg Casar, D-Texas, say the bill would protect taxpayers from being extorted by team owners for huge subsidies. The legislation would likely face an uphill climb in the Republican-controlled Congress.

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