Nov. 22, 2002

Final Stats

Evanston, Ill. - The University of Illinois Swimming and Diving team is in second place with 229.50 points, trailing host Northwestern by 102.50 points after the first of three days of competition at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill.

"I thought we swam very well this morning," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "However, tonight we weren't very sharp or focused and that was a little disappointing. We took ourselves out of a lot of swims tonight. We need to focus on each session and come to race a lot better than we did this evening, which I know we are capable of doing."

In the morning prelims, freshman Christina Brunka continued her early success with the team, breaking into Illinois' all-time Top 10 in the 50 freestyle. The Barrington, Ill., native swam a 24.02 to finish first in the morning swim and jump to 10th all-time in the event in Illinois history. Brunka followed that up in the finals with a second place finish (24.31).

Friday's relay events were a strong point for the Illini, as they finished second in both the 200 free and 400 IM. The team of Brunka, Colleen Gorman, Ilkay Dikmen and Astrid Matthias set a season best in the 200 free relay, posting a time of 1:36.99. In the 400 IM, the team of Alison Czmarko, Dikmen, Crystal McAdam and Brunka touched out in a time of 3:54.03.

In addition to swimming the 400 IM relay event, McAdam also won the 500 free (4:58.27) and finished third in the 200 IM (2:07.32).

The action at the Northwestern Invitational continues Saturday morning.