Jan. 22, 2005

Iowa City, Iowa - Illinois knew they were in a difficult position heading into today's matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes. However, coming off the tough loss last night against Northwestern and traveling to Iowa City after the meet was not enough to keep the Illini down as they pulled through in a tight one, coming down to the last relay, 152-148. Illinois picks up their first conference win of the season moving to 1-3 in the Big Ten and are now 4-5 overall.

"I thought our girls did a great job of responding today after a tough loss last night ," Head Coach Sue Novitsky. "This was a fun meet to be a part of today. It was back and fourth throughout and once again for us it came down to the last race, which we won it today."

The Illini relays came up huge today as they again found themselves in a similar situation where the entire match came down the final race. This time, where before the Illini had came up just short, capitalized on the moment and grabbed the victory and the meet in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:26.61, with a group that included Amy Downing, Meghan Farrell, Brunka and Lakatos. The relay time was also good for eighth best in school history.

Sophomore Barbie Viney was spectacular on the day as she won three individual events. Viney dominated the competition in 50, 100 and 200 free. She grabbed the 50 free in 23.35 and the 200 in 1:51.70. In the 100, Viney recorded a Iowa fieldhouse record in a time of 50.84.

Senior Kirsten Koepcke was also a key component today for the Illini as she won both the 500 and 1000 free for the second consecutive meet. Koepcke won the 500 free in a time of 5:01.31 and the 1000 breast in 10:15.35. Senior Trisha Lakatos followed with the winning by taking both 100 (1:04.71) and 200 breast (2:19.82).

Christina Brunka was a force in the 100 fly as she won the event in 57.16.

The Illini will return to action next weekend as they will head to West Lafayette to take part in the Big Ten Quad meet. The meet will begin on Friday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. CST and conclude on Saturday with competition starting at 12 p.m. CST.