Competitor Coach of the Month: Ray Looze, Indiana

Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.

Though May has been marked by major staff turnover in Bloomington (with assistant coaches Coley Stickels and Caitlin Hamilton both leaving for head coaching gigs and Kirk Grand moving to a different state), the month was also a banner one for IU-trained athletes, particularly the breaststroke group.

At the Bloomington Pro Swim Series, Indiana-trained pro breaststrokers dominated for both men and women, putting up national- and world-ranked times.

On the women’s side, a combination of Lilly King and Annie Lazor hit for four top-3 swims worldwide across the breaststroke distances, two apiece. Meanwhile on the men’s side, Cody Miller went off for the top times this season among all Americans in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. Here’s a look at those world and national rankings for IU-based pros:

• Lilly King: #1 world-ranked 50 breast, 30.03
• Lilly King: #1 world-ranked 100 breast: 1:05.68
• Annie Lazor: #3 world-ranked 100 breast, 1:06.03
• Annie Lazor: #1 world-ranked 200 breast, 2:20.77
• Cody Miller: #1 nationally-ranked 100 breast, 59.24
• Cody Miller: #1 nationally-ranked 200 breast, 2:08.98

For the world, Miller ranks inside the top 10 for the season in the 100 breast, and inside the top 20 for the 200 breast. The IU breaststroke group was also deep this month: at that Bloomington meet, Ian Finnerty was also an A finalist in the men’s 100 breast and Noelle Peplowski an A finalist in the women’s 100 breast. Finnerty was 3rd in the men’s 50 breast. And both Laura Morley and Peplowski were A finalists in the women’s 200 breast.

That’s a great showing for coach Ray Looze‘s breaststroke group heading into a much-anticipated summer for Team USA.

About Competitor Swim

Since 1960, Competitor Swim® has been the leader in the production of racing lanes and other swim products for competitions around the world. Competitor lane lines have been used in countless NCAA Championships, as well as 10 of the past 13 Olympic Games. Molded and assembled using U.S. – made components, Competitor lane lines are durable, easy to set up and are sold through distributors and dealers worldwide.

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