Feb. 8, 2002

Normal, Ill. - The Illinois Swimming and Diving looked sharp in their final tune up meet before the Big Ten Championships in two weeks as they defeated Illinois State Friday night at Horton Pool by a score of 159-86. The Fighting Illini left their experienced swimmers at home for the contest, hoping to get the younger team members some valuable experience heading into the next few weeks and in the process set four pool records.

"I was happy with the way we swam tonight," Head Coach Sue Novitsky said. "The fact that we left our seniors at home and still finished this well speaks to how well the younger kids swam. The folks that were here swam really well and our times are getting faster as we get closer to Big Tens."

The team started off well, winning the first event of the night, the the 400 medley relay. The team of Sara O'Fallon, Ilkay Dikmen, Astrid Matthias and Crystal McAdam set a pool record of 3:54.78 to set the tone for the contest. Before the night was over the Illini had taken 12 of 13 events.

McAdam remained hot as she won the 100 fly with a time of 57.20. The final time set a one of two pool records in the event, the other being her split time of 26.66. Dikmen also clocked a season best in the 200 free, recording a time of 1:55.47.

Freshman Trisha Lakatos also set a pool record in the 100 breast. Her season best time of 1:04.99 was another highlight of the Illini's evening. Fellow freshman Kirsten Koepcke won the 100 back in a season-best time of 1:02.98.

Andrea Powelski posted strong performances in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Her score of 268.575 in the 1-meter event again qualified her for teh NCAA Zone Diving Championships.

Illinois will continue to prepare for the Big Ten Championships, hosted by Michigan on February 21-23.

- ILLINI -