Results

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team played host to Indiana State on Friday, October 13, at the ARC Pool. The meet marked the beginning of the regular season for the Orange and Blue, as the team earned a 180-111 victory over the Sycamores to improve to 1-0 on the season.

"I thought overall we were pretty good today," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "We had some really good swims and our freshmen are really coming along well. We were a little sloppy on some of the details and those are things that make a big difference. We will work on those details in practice this week to try to clean it up a little bit before Michigan State."

The Illini dominated throughout the meet, earning top times in 12 of the 14 swimming events. The 400 medley relay team of McCord, Aegerter, Vuong and Curtis got things started, finishing with the top time in the event (3:54.07).

Two Illini swimmers won multiple events on the night, including senior Samantha Stratford and sophomore Monica Guyett. Stratford earned top times in the 50 freestyle (:23.95) and 1000 freestyle (10:18.98), while Guyett paced all swimmers in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle, touching the wall with times of 1:54.44 and 5:09.97, respectively.

Freshman Michelle McCord made an immediate impact for the Illini, as the Canton, Georgia, native came away with the top 100 breaststroke time of 1:06.23. In addition to being part of the 400 medley relay team, McCord also swam the opening leg of the top 200 freestyle relay team that finished with a time of 1:35.55.

ON THE BOARDS

Junior Madeline Kuhn was the lone diver to compete for the Illini, finishing with the top scores in both 1-meter (274.20) and 3-meter diving competition (305.70). Both scores qualify for the NCAA zone cut.  

"I saw her really go after her dives and I am really satisfied with her performance," said head diving coach Manny Pollard. "I expect us to continue working toward our goals. Qualifying for the zone cut on the first dives is really good, but we still have more goals than that. We hit our first milestone and we are going to move on to the next one."

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