Zach Apple Poised to Fill Pieroni Role for NCAA Title-Contending Indiana

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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At each of the last four men’s NCAA swimming championships, the Texas Longhorns have taken home the team title, and the California Golden Bears have finished second. Those two programs have developed such standards of excellence that in eight of the last nine seasons, the final standings have included Texas and Cal occupying the top two spots, in some order.

But in 2018, Indiana came so close to crashing the party. The Hoosiers held the lead heading into the final day of competition, and it took massive efforts from the Longhorns in the 200 back and 100 free and from Cal in the 200 breast and 200 fly to return to their expected positions. In the end, Texas finished with 449 points to edge Cal (437.5) and Indiana (422).

“It definitely gave us a taste of what a national title run can feel like, all the way up until the very end,” Indiana coach Ray Looze said.

Looze admits that his team lacks the depth of Texas or Cal—although he did point out that the Hoosiers used improve depth to win this year’s Big Ten Championships by almost six times their margin from 2017. But Indiana developed a formula in making a run at last year’s national championship that didn’t involve incredible depth: Big points from four individual scorers, big diving points and strong relays.

Indiana senior Vini Lanza — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Ian Finnerty, last year’s national champion in both breaststroke events and the only man ever under 50 in the 100 breast, returns. So does Vini Lanza, who finished third in the 100 and 200 fly in 2018 and sixth in the 200 IM. Also back is Mohamed Samy, fourth in the 200 free and a B-finalist in both backstroke events. Backstroker Gabriel Fantoni and freestyler Bruno Blaskovic both should improve after serving as key relay swimmers in their freshman seasons.

Indiana loses diver Michael Hixon, last year’s 1-meter champion and the third-place finisher in the 3-meter event, but James Connor and Andrew Capobianco both return after each scoring in the top eight in multiple events last year.

Aside from Hixon, the Hoosiers lose just three key pieces from last year’s team: Blake Pieroni, Levi Brock and Ali Khalafalla. Brock scored individual points in both breaststroke events, but Finnerty’s presence lessens the impact of that loss. Khalafalla was an important relay depth piece?

Pieroni? He set an American record in the 200 free on a relay leadoff before finishing second in that individual event, fourth in the 100 free and providing the key 40.95 anchor leg on Indiana’s national championship-winning 400 medley relay. That’s the type of swimmer whose graduation could cripple a team—without a ready-made replacement.
Enter Zach Apple, a senior transfer from Auburn. One year after Pieroni qualified for his first Olympic team as part of the U.S. men’s 400 free relay, Apple made his international debut in the same event at the 2017 World Championships.

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Zach Apple while swimming for Auburn in 2018 — Photo Courtesy: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Last year, Apple finished third in the 200 free, fourth in the 50 free and ninth in the 100 free, winning the B-final with the third-fastest time of the meet, and he is again seeded among the top-ten swimmers in all three events for this year’s meet. He now trains alongside Pieroni, fits the exact same profile as a swimmer as Pieroni and could fill his shoes to a T at this year’s championships.

“It feels like he’s been a part of the team the whole time. He’s such a good guy and leader that he assimilated immediately,” Looze said. “Losing a guy like Blake Pieroni is in most cases an irreplaceable loss, but because of Zach, we haven’t really felt it.”

Apple arrived in Bloomington in May with only the summer to prepare for his senior season, and he immediately thrived while training alongside Pieroni, Samy and Lanza. He finished the 2018 long course season ranked first in the country in the 100 free (48.03) and sixth in the 200 free (1:46.56). His 200, in particular, was a huge jump from Apple’s previous best time of 1:48.39, and he earned a finals spot on the U.S. men’s 800 free relay at Pan Pacs.

Swimming aside, Apple arrived at Indiana in an awkward spot, as a new face but a senior with a strong record of success and even international experience.

“At the beginning, it was a little weird to come in and try to get into a leadership role while I was trying to get to know the team,” Apple said. “But I think coming in this summer was really key for that, building the relationship with a lot of those guys so once we hit the college season I could really step into that role and try to help some of the younger guys achieve some pretty big things this year.”

One year ago, Apple never imagined that he would spend his last college season wearing Hoosier red and white candy stripes. Now, he’s the key to Indiana remaining in the national title race.

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