Ray Looze – Women’s Swimming and Diving Coach

Entering the 2026-27 season, Ray Looze takes on his twenty second yr on the helm of each the lads’s and girls’s swimming applications at Indiana University and his twenty fifth season mentoring the IU males. Looze has achieved historic success as each a coach and a world-class swimmer, accomplishments that he carried into his tenure with the Hoosiers since his hiring in June 2002.

Since arriving in Bloomington, Looze has made it his mission to return Indiana swimming to the elite stage it had maintained all through the 1960’s and 70’s. Now, each the Indiana males’s and girls’s applications are having fun with a interval of sustained excellence each on the nationwide and convention ranges.

 

Nationally, Looze has returned the lads’s crew to nationwide powerhouse standing – Over the final 5 years, solely three males’s applications have persistently completed prime 5 nationally: Texas, Florida and the Indiana Hoosiers. The males of Indiana haven’t completed exterior the highest six since 2018, incomes seven prime 5 finishes in these eight full seasons.

 

The girls’s program has surged into nationwide prominence as properly, reaching new heights with its 4 greatest NCAA finishes coming within the final 4 seasons – together with a file fourth place efficiency in 2025. The Hoosiers have positioned seventh or higher every of the final 4 seasons, additionally incomes 10 prime 10 finishes in 11 full seasons going again to 2015.

 

Following the 2025-26 season, Looze earned his fifth consecutive Big Ten Men’s Coach of the Year award. Looze now owns the convention information for many males’s coach of the yr awards (10), girls’s coach of the yr awards (7) and complete coach of the yr awards (17). Looze is the one Big Ten coach to have received the lads’s and girls’s awards in the identical season – having achieved so 4 occasions (2016, 2017, 2024, 2025).  

 

Looze received nationwide coach of the yr honors in consecutive seasons, incomes the ASCA Coach of the Year award – for main “American Swimming Excellence on the world level” – In 2017 and the CSCAA Coach of the Year award in 2018. Looze is a member of each the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame (Class of 2021) and International Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame (’26) and, in 2021, was named to the CSCAA’s all-time “100 Greatest Coaches” checklist.

 

Looze has received 15 Big Ten Championships – together with 5 straight on the lads’s aspect. His swimmers have totaled 23 nationwide titles, 216 Big Ten titles and 858 All-American honors. In addition, Looze has coached 19 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year winners, 13 Freshman of the Year winners and 17 Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships winners. Indiana athletes have earned six Big Ten Swimmer of the Year awards over the past 5 seasons.

 

It’s laborious to speak about Looze’s legacy with out mentioning Lilly King, who spent primarily her total collegiate {and professional} profession coaching in Bloomington. Looze helped King turn out to be a three-time Olympic Champion and eight-time NCAA Champion who set world information within the 50-meter breaststroke, 100-meter breaststroke, 4×100-meter medley in addition to NCAA information within the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke occasions throughout her profession.

 

2025-26 Season

 

Despite graduating 5 nationwide champions and 18 All-Americans from its 2024-25 groups that completed third on the males’s NCAA Championships and fourth on the girls’s meet, Looze’s Hoosiers maintained their standing among the many prime applications within the nation in 2025-26.

 

Looze led the lads of Indiana to a fifth consecutive prime 5 end. At the nationwide meet, the Hoosiers repeated because the No. 3 crew within the nation regardless of returning solely 4 particular person scorers from the earlier yr’s roster. Ten of Indiana’s 15 All-Americans have been first-time particular person point-scorers. Hoosiers set Big Ten and program information in 4 occasions. Two-time NCAA Champion Zalán Sárkány closed his profession with an NCAA file within the 1,000-yard freestyle, splitting an 8:33.10 throughout his second-place efficiency within the 1,650 free.

 

The Indiana males additionally captured their fifth straight Big Ten title, totaling 12 Big Ten particular person or relay titles and 27 medals on the convention championship meet. Indiana’s dominance confirmed not solely in its 336.5-point margin of victory however in three podium sweeps as properly: within the 100-yard backstroke, 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle.

 

The girls’s crew broke 9 program information and picked up 34 All-American honors to complete seventh on the NCAA Championships. Indiana completed ninth or higher in every relay and totaled 4 medals: within the 200-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard freestyle (Liberty Clark), 100-yard butterfly (Alex Shackell) and 200-yard butterfly (Shackell). The Hoosiers closed the meet with their third Big Ten file of the week within the 400-yard freestyle relay, clocking a 3:07.51 to complete fifth. IU’s quartet of freshmen Liberty Clark, Alex Shackell, Grace Hoeper and senior Kristina Paegle tied or broke that 400 free relay Big Ten file 3 times through the season.

 

At the Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, IU rallied from fourth place by three days to complete second for a second straight season. The Hoosiers have completed within the prime three in 20 consecutive seasons with 15 championship or runner-up finishes throughout that span. Indiana set Big Ten Championship information within the 400 free relay (3:07.72) and 100 free (Clark – 46.22) and received 4 convention titles.

 

Looze and his workers showcased recruiting and growth with a powerful freshman class that completed second in scoring on the NCAA Men’s Championships and third on the girls’s nationwide meet. Six Hoosier freshmen earned All-American honors of their first season, led by Josh Bey, Liberty Clark and Alex Shackell.

 

Bey was named the Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Year and Freshman of the Year, changing into the third athlete to earn each awards in the identical season. As a freshman, Bey set the No. 8 quickest 400 IM (3:34.90) and No. 10 quickest 200-yard breaststroke all-time (1:48.79). He positioned second within the 200 breast and seventh within the 200 IM and 400 IM to turn out to be the very best scoring freshman and Big Ten athlete on the NCAA Championships.

 

Clark was the unanimous choice for Big Ten Women’s Freshman of the Year after breaking seven program information, two Big Ten information, two Big Ten Championship information and two 17-18 National Age Group information throughout her first season in cream and crimson. The Chico, California, native reached the rostrum in all seven of her occasions on the NCAA Championships, highlighted by a silver medal within the 200-yard freestyle and bronze within the 200-yard freestyle relay. During the meet, Clark turned the fifth lady to interrupt the 1:40 barrier within the 200 freestyle earlier than changing into the second to do it twice, recording occasions of 1:39.70 and 1:39.88 on faculty swimming’s greatest stage.

 

Shackell set program information within the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard butterfly and in 4 of 5 relays as a freshman. The Carmel, Indiana, native earned NCAA silver within the 100 fly because the lone freshman within the A closing, in addition to bronze within the 200 fly and 200 freestyle relay.

 

International Competition – Olympics and World Championships

 

Looze is a three-time Olympic coach, serving as an assistant for the U.S. Olympic Team at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and for Team Lithuania at Paris 2024. Looze has despatched 26 athletes to 6 completely different Olympics. In that span, Hoosiers have collected 9 Olympic gold medals, and 18 complete medals, in swimming (4 silver, 4 bronze).

 

As properly as his Olympic teaching expertise, Looze has additionally served as the top coach for the United States on the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships and 2015 World University Games in addition to for the ladies’s crew on the 2014 brief course world championships. He was a U.S. assistant coach on the 2009 World University Games as properly and has served Team USA as an assistant at a number of World Aquatics Championships.

 

Looze has produced double-digit Olympic swimmers in consecutive cycles. Eleven swimmers with ties to this system participated on the Paris Games, probably the most throughout Looze’s tenure. That group included 5 members of the U.S. Olympic Team in addition to athletes representing Egypt, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands and, for the primary time in class historical past, Singapore and Lithuania. In her third and closing Olympics, Lilly King swam the breaststroke leg of the ladies’s 4×100-meter medley relay that received gold and set a world file. Anna Peplowski and Blake Pieroni every helped Team USA safe silver medals within the males’s and girls’s 4×200-meter freestyle, respectively.

 

Ten Hoosier swimmers mixed for eight medals on the 2020 Tokyo Games. Sprinters Zach Apple and Blake Pieroni each contributed to Team USA’s gold medals within the males’s 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley. King captured medals in each breaststroke occasions – silver within the 100m breast, bronze within the 200m breast – in addition to silver within the 4x100m medley. Annie Lazor, who educated in IU’s professional group forward of the 2020 Summer Games, joined King on the 100m breaststroke podium with a bronze medal.

 

Lilly King retired from swimming following the 2025 World Aquatics Championships as a three-time Olympian (2016, 2020, 2024), three-time Olympic Champion and six-time Olympic medalist. King additionally received 20 World Championships between brief course and lengthy course and 28 complete medals. With her world title within the 200-meter breaststroke in 2022, King turned the primary American – male of feminine – to win a profession treble of golds of any stroke on the lengthy course world championships. King’s world information within the 100-meter breaststroke (LCM – 2017) and 4×100-meter medley (SCM – 2024) nonetheless stand right now.

 

Like King, Pieroni additionally medaled in Rio, Tokyo and Paris. Both King and Pieroni are natives of the State of Indiana.

 

Hoosier swimmers have totaled eight medals on the final two World Aquatics Championships – brief course in 2024 (Budapest) and lengthy course in 2025 (Singapore). Looze served Team USA as an assistant coach in Singapore, with 4 Hoosiers on the U.S. National Team and 13 complete IU swimmers competing on the meet. King capped her profession with a world championship within the 4×100-meter medley, and Josh Matheny captured bronze within the males’s race. Anna Peplowski captured silver and an American file with the U.S. girls’s 4×200-meter freestyle. Caspar Corbeau added to his lengthy course medal assortment with a bronze within the 200-meter breaststroke.

 

In Budapest, Zalán Sárkány earned a hometown win within the 800-meter freestyle – his first world title. King medaled within the 50 breast, 100 breast and 4×100 medley, serving to the U.S. set a brief course world file within the relay.

 

Development

 

Countless swimmers have seen dramatic time drops over their careers in Ray Looze’s program. A couple of current examples embrace Van Mathias, Jassen Yep, Anna Peplowski and Josh Bey.

 

One of Looze’s most hanging examples of growth got here in 2023 by present U.S. National Team member Van Mathias. Prior to that season, Mathias had by no means completed greater than twenty sixth individually on the nationwide meet. Over the collegiate schedule, Mathias posted dramatic drops within the 50 free (20.05 to 18.89), 100 free (43.70 to 41.33) and 100 breast (54.74 to 50.57) over the yr and ended his season as IU’s No. 2 swimming scorer behind Brendan Burns with 35 factors on the nationwide meet, gathering a team-best seven All-American finishes.

 

After retiring from swimming, Mathias turned this system’s director of operations and made his return to the pool in his free time – coaching on the IU pool. Since then, Mathias has turn out to be the American file holder within the 50-meter breaststroke (26.39) and 100-meter breaststroke (58.01) and third-fastest all-time within the 100-yard breaststroke (49.54).

 

Yep had the second of the meet on the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, profitable the 200-yard breaststroke nationwide title and changing into the third-fastest swimmer within the occasion all-time along with his 1:48.30. The shock of the second got here from how a lot time Yep dropped over his collegiate profession. Yep’s greatest time in highschool was a 1:57.42. By his second Big Ten Championships in 2022, Yep had shaved virtually 4 seconds off his lifetime greatest (1:53.86). A yr later, Yep certified for his first NCAA Championships with a season-best 1:52.33, and that subsequent fall he went 1:50.71 at midseason earlier than profitable the 2024 Big Ten title with a 1:50.40. Yep shed one other near-half second off his greatest on the 2025 convention meet with a 1:49.93 earlier than ending his profession along with his astounding 1:48.30 – a complete drop of 9.12 seconds throughout 5 collegiate seasons. 

 

Peplowski turned one of many nation’s prime freestyle swimmers throughout her collegiate profession and continues to develop in IU’s professional group. In brief course yards, Peplowski dropped 2.92 seconds within the 100-yard freestyle (2.92), 7.57 seconds within the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.50) and 18.94 seconds within the 500-yard freestyle (4:33.86) to interrupt this system information in every occasion. Her 200 free title as a senior was a crowning achievement, enhancing from tenth as a freshman, sixth as a sophomore and second as a junior.

 

In the lengthy course pool, Peplowski dipped beneath 2:00 within the 200-meter freestyle for the primary time together with her first swim in an Indiana cap on the 2022 Phillips 66 National Championships. Two years later, she made the U.S. Olympic Team with a 1:57.04 that positioned fifth at trials and went on to assist the 4×200-meter freestyle relay win a silver medal. Peplowski dropped one other 1.5 seconds the following yr, her 1:55.70 making the 2025 World Championships roster. At that meet, she blasted a 1:54.75 break up within the second leg of Team USA’s 4×200-meter freestyle, serving to set and American file in 7:40.41 whereas incomes a silver medal.

 

Bey noticed vital drops in simply his first season at Indiana, changing into the second-fastest freshman all-time in each the 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard IM – behind solely Leon Marchand. Bey went a 3:34.90 to win the Big Ten 400 IM title, dropping 7.71 seconds off his greatest time from highschool. The freshman additionally shaved 4.95 seconds within the 200 breast throughout his first season, his 1:48.79 putting second on the NCAA Championships and rating No. 2 in program historical past behind Yep.

 

‘Breaststroke U’

 

Indiana has received 12 NCAA breaststroke championships throughout Looze’s tenure, eight girls’s titles and 4 males’s titles. Looze’s breaststrokers have mixed for eight Olympic medals, 4 of these gold.

 

Five of the highest 25 performers all-time within the males’s 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke set their greatest occasions whereas coaching beneath Looze. King stays the one lady to interrupt the 56-second barrier within the girls’s 100 breast regardless of setting her private greatest in 2019.

 

Between King and Mathias, Hoosiers personal seven of 16 American information in breaststroke occasions between lengthy course meters, brief course meters and brief course yards.

 

During Looze’s tenure, 10 Hoosiers have mixed for 32 Big Ten breaststroke titles, led by King (8), Cody Miller (7) and Finnerty (6). Kevin Swander was Looze’s first breaststroke champion, profitable the 100 breast in 2004 and 2006, bookending a 200 breast title in 2005. The Indiana girls received 200 breaststroke titles in 9 of 10 seasons between 2016-2025 due to King (2016-19), Emily Weiss (2021), Brearna Crawford (2022, 24-25) and Noelle Peplowski (2023).

 

At the 2025 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Indiana took breaststroke dominance to a brand new stage. On Friday, Indiana took the highest 5 finishes within the 100-yard breaststroke earlier than taking the highest 4 within the 200-yard breaststroke on Saturday. That group went on to complete 89 factors within the breaststroke occasions on the NCAA Championships, by far probably the most of any program. Yep received the nationwide title within the 200 breast, and Caspar Corbeau earned prime 5 finishes in every occasion.

 

With primarily a model new breaststroke group, Indiana once more led the NCAA in breaststroke scoring on the 2026 NCAA Championships. Five first-time NCAA point-scorers – Alexei Avakov, Toby Barnett, Josh Bey, Noah Cakir and Travis Gulledge – mixed for 63.5 factors on the nationwide meet. Bey and Barnett set the Nos. 2 and three occasions in program historical past, each going beneath 1:50 for the primary time of their careers. With a bronze medal efficiency at Big Tens, Cakir set the 17-18 National Age Group file within the 200 breast with a 1:50.47.

 

NCAA Champions

 

Twelve Indiana swimmers have earned the NCAA Champion title beneath Ray Looze, combining for 23 nationwide titles beneath his steering. Looze has produced an NCAA champion in each stroke – Twelve breaststroke, 5 backstroke, two butterfly, two freestyle, two relay.

 

IU received seven NCAA titles on the 2025 NCAA Championships between males’s and girls’s swimming and diving, marking a brand new excessive in Looze’s partnership with IU head diving coach Drew Johansen. Three swimmers received titles. Anna Peplowski capped her legendary collegiate profession with a victory within the 200-yard freestyle. Jassen Yep introduced a breaststroke title again to Bloomington within the 200-yard occasion, his win marking maybe the second of the championships. And Zalán Sárkány – a switch from Arizona State – received his second straight title within the 1,650-yard freestyle with a dominant efficiency on the ultimate day.

 

Brendan Burns received a nationwide title in every of the earlier three seasons. Burns repeated as NCAA Champion within the 100-yard backstroke in 2023 and 2024, changing into the third quickest man ever on the time with a 46.31 in his first championship within the occasion. The yr earlier than, Burns beat a stacked subject within the 200-yard butterfly to ship IU’s first title within the occasion since 1973. Burns received Big Ten Swimmer of the Year every of these seasons.

 

Indiana received 5 NCAA swimming titles in consecutive seasons from 2018-19. In 2018, due to Ian Finnerty and Lilly King, Indiana turned the primary program to finish the sweep of all 4 NCAA breaststroke titles. King received each for a fourth straight season in ‘19, while Finnerty repeated in the 100 breast that year. IU also repeated as champion of the men’s 400-year medley relay, because the quartet of Gabriel Fantoni, Finnerty, Vini Lanza and Zach Apple topped the rostrum each years. Vini Lanza received a detailed battle within the 2019 100-yard butterfly closing to seize the person title.

 

Prior to King’s four-year breaststroke dominance, IU had been one of many main applications in backstroke, profitable three titles. Kate Fesenko (200 again) and Ben Hesen (100 again) delivered Indiana’s first swimming titles of Looze’s tenure in 2008. Fesenko additionally turned the primary feminine swimming champion in program historical past. In 2014, Brooklyn Snodgrass adopted Fesenko’s lead with a title of her personal within the 200 backstroke.

 

Other Indiana Highlights

 

• Indiana has earned the Big Ten’s greatest end at every of the final 10 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
• Both the Indiana women and men made historical past on the 2025 NCAA Championships, every setting program information for each All-American honors and factors scored on the nationwide meet. In a 3rd place end, the lads totaled 51 All-American honors and 459 factors. The girls earned a program file end, putting fourth with 312 factors from 38 All-American performances.
• IU set the American file within the 200-yard medley relay on the 2025 NCAA Championships, as Luke Barr, Brian Benzing, Finn Brooks and Matt King clocked a 1:20.92 to put fifth.
• At the 2025 Big Ten Championships, the Hoosier males set the biggest margin of victory in convention historical past. Indiana’s 1,579 factors separated them it the sector by 431 factors. That week, IU received 11 Big Ten titles, earned 26 medals and set Big Ten information in three occasions.
• Looze and the Indiana girls’s crew authored one of many best championship finishes in faculty swimming historical past on the 2024 Big Ten Championships. Needing two factors to leap Ohio State within the crew standings, IU outpaced the Buckeyes with a second place end within the 400 freestyle relay to win the meet by half of 1 level.
• Ten of Looze’s swimmers have mixed for 14 Indiana University Athlete of the Year awards – honoring the highest athlete, female and male, throughout the athletic division. Seven girls have received the award 11 occasions because the 2006-07 educational yr. Lilly King received the award 4 consecutive years from 2015-16, and Anna Peplowski went back-to-back in 2024 and 2025.
• The Indiana males have swept the medals of at the least one Big Ten championship closing in 4 consecutive seasons. In 2023, it was the platform diving occasions and in 2024 the 200-yard breaststroke. IU swept each the 100 breast and 200 breast in 2025. In 2026, Hoosiers swept three occasions: the 100 again, 500 free and 1,650 free.
• Perhaps nothing illustrates Looze’s potential to supply world-class swimmers in each stroke like Indiana’s sustained success within the 400-yard medley relay. Indiana received 10 straight Big Ten titles within the occasion between 2016-25. In addition, the Hoosiers have completed prime 5 nationally within the 400 medley relay at every of the final eighth NCAA Championships, highlighted by consecutive titles in 2018 and 2019 in addition to repeat runner-up finishes in 2022 and 2023.
• The Indiana girls received three consecutive Big Ten titles from 2009-11 in addition to 4 convention championships in 5 seasons between 2007-11. Prior to its energetic streak of 5 consecutive Big Ten Championships, the lads received three straight in from 2017-19.
• In 2026, Bloomington, Indiana, native Kristina Paegle completed her profession as the ladies’s program file holder for All-American honors with 24. During her profession, Paegle broke the 50-yard freestyle file in addition to a number of relay information, setting new requirements for dash success.

A confirmed winner earlier than arriving at IU, the highlights of Looze’s profession are exceptional:

 

• Five seasons as the top males’s swimming coach on the University of the Pacific produced 4 Big West Conference Coach of the Year honors
  
  • Two seasons as the top coach on the esteemed Peddie School resulted in a legendary nationwide championship
  
  • One season as a graduate assistant on the University of Texas resulted in a NCAA crew championship
  
  • In 4 years as a varsity swimmer on the University of Southern California, Looze’s profession was highlighted with: each educational and athletic All-America honors; prime 10 finishes in eight NCAA occasions, together with a second-place swim within the 400-yard particular person medley on the 1990 NCAA Championships; a finance diploma magna cum laude; an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and being acknowledged as a finalist for each the Rhodes Scholarship and the Walter Byers Award
  
  • On the worldwide swimming scene, was a member of the 1990 United States Goodwill Games crew and that yr was ranked among the many world’s greatest within the 200-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter and 400-meter particular person medleys
  
  • At the United States Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in 1992, simply missed qualifying for the Olympic Games by putting third within the 400 particular person medley and fifth within the 200 IM.

 
Looze arrived at Indiana after spending 5 seasons as head swim coach on the University of the Pacific. He took over the helm of the lads’s swimming program on August 16, 1997, and starting in 1998, he assumed the position as head coach for each the lads’s and girls’s swimming applications. Looze was named the Big West Conference Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year in 4 consecutive seasons (1998-2002). In 2002-03, Looze led each groups to Big West Conference championships and subsequently was named the Big West Coach of the Year in each males’s and girls’s swimming.

Prior to his tenure at Pacific, Looze served as the top coach on the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., from 1994-95, the place he led the storied prep college to Swimming World’s legendary nationwide championship in 1995. As a males’s swimming graduate assistant on the University of Texas, he was a part of one other nationwide championship crew as he helped the Longhorns seize the 1991 NCAA title. He additionally labored because the assistant males’s swimming coach at Harvard from 1992-93. At the membership stage, Looze has coached the Phoenix (Ariz.) Swim Club from 1995-96 and Tiger Aquatics in Stockton, Calif., throughout his tenure at Pacific.

Success has adopted Looze all through his teaching profession. In solely a brief time frame, the University of Southern California product took Pacific’s program to new heights.

After taking up the lads’s program in 1997, he guided his 1999 squad to a second-place end on the Big West Championships and earned Big West Coach of the Year accolades for his efforts. At the identical meet, the Pacific girls’s crew received its first-ever Big West title, outscoring second-place UC-Santa Barbara by 112 factors.

As a student-athlete at Southern California, Looze was a standout out and in of the pool. He turned the primary non-football enjoying Trojan in class historical past to earn GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. In 1989, he was acknowledged as the varsity’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was additionally a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner and obtained recognition as a finalist for the 1989 Rhodes Scholarship and the 1990 NCAA Walter Byers Award.

As a Trojan, Looze was a four-time All-America choice in swimming. At the 1990 NCAA Championships, he completed second within the 400 particular person medley and in the end earned a spot on the 1990 U.S. Goodwill Games squad. He completed the 1990 marketing campaign ranked among the many world’s greatest within the 200-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter and 400-meter particular person medleys.

Looze graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s diploma in enterprise finance from the University of Southern California and earned a grasp’s diploma from the School of Education on the University of Texas at Austin. He and his spouse, Kandis, have two youngsters: Bryce Ryan and Mackenzie.