Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini women's swimming and diving team will open its regular season with a busy weekend of competition, as the team will welcome Michigan State and Marshall to the ARC Pool on Friday, October 21, at 5 p.m. UI will also host Illinois State and Southern Illinois on Saturday, October 22, at noon.
"We are looking forward to kicking off the season," said head coach Sue Novitsky. "The team has been putting in some quality training and they are ready to compete. We will be challenged this weekend on a number of levels. Having to compete on back-to-back days against four strong teams is going to be a good test for us physically and mentally. We have to be able to come back on multiple days and sessions and get ourselves ready to go each time."
The Illini are coming off their annual Orange and Blue Intra-squad meet, in which junior Samantha Stratford set the meet record in both the 200 individual medley (2:00.09) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.97). The 200 IM time also set the ARC Pool record.
Scouting MSU and Marshall
Illinois has dominated the Spartans in recent years, winning the last eight meetings between the schools dating back to 2008-09. Michigan State finished last season with a record of 4-8, as well as a 13th place finish at the Big Ten Championships. The Spartans come into the weekend after hosting Notre Dame and Iowa in an outdoor tri-meet to open their season. MSU finished third in the competition.
Marshall heads to Champaign after earning a first place finish at the West Virginia Games. The Thundering Herd are coming of an impressive 8-3 record from a year ago, as well as a third place finish at the Conference USA Championships.
Scouting ISU and SIU
Illinois State is off to a busy start to the season, as the Redbirds defeated Lewis and Illinois Wesleyan at home a few weeks ago. The team then traveled to compete in both the Dennis Starks Relays at Notre Dame and the Missouri State Invite, earning 5th place finishes in both. The Illini defeated ISU 208-91 last season.
Southern Illinois will be looking for revenge this weekend after falling to the Illini 166-134 last season. The Salukis enter the weekend following a victory over Evansville, as well as a fourth place finish at the Missouri State Invite.
Next Up
Following the weekend's competition, the Illini will head to Evanston to take on Northwestern and Rutgers on Saturday, October 29. Meet competition will begin at 1 p.m.
