Monday, June 27, 2016

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Monday, June 27, 2016 | Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com

ROAD TO RIO

IDS PHOTOS BY BARI GOLDMAN | IDS

IU diver Jessica Parratto dives in the women’s 10-meter event Saturday at the IUPUI Natatorium. Parratto took first in the event to qualify for the Olympics.

OLYMPIC DREAMS REALIZED

3 Hoosiers qualify for summer Olympics

Cozad, Parratto will compete as a duo in Rio

By Grace Palmieri

By Grace Palmieri

gpalmier@indiana.edu | @grace_palmieri

gpalmier@indiana.edu | @grace_palmieri

After IU sent six divers to the Olympic Trials this past week, half of them walked away with at least one qualifying spot. Michael Hixon, an IU junior, secured his individual spot in the 3-meter springboard June 25. Redshirt-sophomore Jessica Parratto followed that with a firstplace finish in the 10-meter individual event. It wasn’t their first win of the week, though. On June 22, Hixon and his partner Sam Dorman took the lone Olympic spot in the 3-meter synchro. Parratto and former Hoosier Amy Cozad, both competing in their home pool, combined to earn a place on Team USA later that night. It wasn’t easy to refocus after that emotional night, Hixon said. “That whole emotional thing that went down on Wednesday, that takes it out of you,” he said. “I definitely tried to put it out of my mind.” Hixon and Kristian Ipsen, who took the second qualifying spot on the 3-meter Saturday, led the group of 12 divers going into the finals. After botching the fourth dive of his set, Hixon came back with two solid dives to secure second

An American flag scarf draped around her neck, Amy Cozad peered up at her family from the pool deck as her freckled face began to turn red. Cozad isn’t normally one to show emotion, performing dive after dive with poise and a quiet confidence. This time she couldn’t help it. Her eyes welled up with tears. “Are you proud of me?” she said, breaking into a smile. On the wall to her left read the names of all the American Olympians to come before her. She grew up in Indianapolis, trained here for as long as she can remember. She dove her first dive off that springboard. And now, “Amy Cozad” will be the next name painted in blue on that white wall. Cozad and her synchro partner Jessica Parratto, both IU divers, punched their ticket to Rio on June 22 night with a commanding win in the 10-meter synchro event. With such a big lead, the duo had won before they even climbed the tower for their final dive. “It’s a dream come true for sure, but it’s not over yet,” Cozad said. As they came out of the water after

SEE HOOSIERS, PAGE 3

SEE SYNCHRO, PAGE 3

Photo gallery, idsnews.com See more photos from this past week’s Olympic Trials at the IUPUI Natatorium online.

‘Side by side,’ specials.idsnews.com/ sidebyside Amy Cozad and Jessica Parratto have been training together at IU for two years.

IU’s Michael Hixon earns synchro spot on Team USA By Grace Palmieri gpalmier@indiana.edu | @grace_palmieri

IU diver Jessica Parratto hugs Katrina Young after the two finished first and second in the women’s 10-meter event and qualified for the Olympics on Sunday at the IUPUI Natatorium.

Michael Hixon wouldn’t let himself think about it. In the moments leading up to his final dive June 22 night, the thought of becoming an Olympian – a lifelong dream – hadn’t crossed his mind. This isn’t that big of a deal, he would think, to keep the pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage from getting to him. But when he saw his winning score

flash across the screen, Hixon finally let himself believe it. “After the last dive it was pretty emotional,” he said. “For the first time, I really thought about it.” Hixon, an IU junior, and his partner Sam Dorman, of Miami Diving, outlasted Kristian Ipsen and Troy Dumais to win the 3-meter synchro event and earn their trip to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Ipsen and Dumais won a bronze medal in 2012 and were expected to represent SEE HIXON, PAGE 3

SPH professor awarded grant to study Zika From IDS reports

IU assistant professor Lucia Guerra-Reyes received a grant from the National Science Foundation. Guerra-Reyes is studying how people make decisions about pregnancy and contraception in communities under the threat of Zika. More specifically, the assistant professor of applied health science at the IU School of Public Health is researching how men and women in Zika-threatened communities negotiate reproductive health decisions in the face of inequality, limited resources, poor information and disparate health access. The study, titled “RAPID: Understanding Emergent Responses and Decision-Making Under the Threat of Zika,” is funded by a $25,000 grant from the NSF’s Rapid Response Research program. The program is designed to provide support for research topics of “severe urgency,” accord-

ing to an IU press release. “This study focuses on understanding how gender negotiations may affect the spread of the virus,” Guerra-Reyes said in a press release. “It will produce information that will allow a better tailoring of preventive messages.” The Zika virus, which is transmitted through the dengue mosquito and the tiger mosquito was first identified 50 years ago. The virus arrived in Brazil in 2015 and has spread to 33 countries and territories in the Americas. It has been linked to microcephaly and other fetal abnormalities and was found to also be transmittable through sexual intercourse. In February 2016, the World Health Organization declared Zika a global public health emergency, according to a press release. Guerra-Reyes will conduct her research through focus groups and in-depth interviews with men and

women in Iquitos, Peru, the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon and the sixth most populous city in Peru. She traveled to Peru on June 2 and will work there until Aug. 8. There is currently no active Zika spread in Iquitos. However, the town is on a river floodplain, has a history of dengue mortality and is a high-risk area for mosquito-borne infections, according to a press release. “This region has one of the highest fertility rates in the country and poor access to health care overall,” Guerra-Reyes said in a press release. Among urban-poor women in Latin America, the Zika virus has shown inequalities in access to reproductive health information, contraception, sexual education and safe abortion care, GuerraReyes said in a press release. She said official responses advocating for abstinence and to delay pregnancy have placed the burden for prevention on women.

The NSF-funded project will aim to understand the changing cultural patterns to reproductive decisions under the threat of the Zika virus before the virus spreads. Guerra-Reyes and colleague Ruth Iguiñiz-Romero, from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia School of Public Health, will focus on the population’s reproductive health beliefs, reproductive decision-making and local perceptions of government responsibility and how they might change in the wake of the Zika virus. The study will also explore gender roles before the spread of the Zika virus in Peru, according to a press release. Guerra-Reyes’ previous research has also focused on Peru. Her findings addressed health inequality, particularly the effects of cultural diversity and the understandings of culture on health care provision. Leo Smith

Former student pleads guilty Former Delta Tau Delta member has rape charges dismissed From IDS reports

John Enochs, a former IU student, accepted a plea deal and was sentenced June 23 for battery with moderate bodily injury. Enochs was charged with two SEE ENOCHS, PAGE 3


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Monday, June 27, 2016 by Indiana Daily Student - idsnews - Issuu