Jan. 31, 2004

Final Stats

Madison, Wis. - Illinois tried to improve on their slow first session by coming back strong on the second day of action at the Big Ten Quad Meet in Madison, but could not overcome the tough Big Ten competition, losing to Purdue 189.5-162.5, Minnesota 193-159 and host Wisconsin 253-98.

"I thought we looked a lot stronger this afternoon compared to how we swam on Friday," Head Coach Sue Novitsky. "We are pleased how the team responded after a slow start yesterday and was able to make the meet competitive."

Senior Ilkay Dikmen was the bright spot for the Illini, winning the 200 breast and setting a Wisconsin pool record in a time of 2:15.05. Dikmen's strong Saturday performance was good enough for an NCAA "B" cut time.

The Illini finished second in the 400 free relay event. The team of Crystal McAdam, Meghan Farrell, Barbie Viney and Kirsten Koepcke touched out in a time of 3:29.22.

Illinois got a strong showing from the junior Koepcke. Koepcke finsihed second in the 500 free swimming to a time of 4:54.90. Viney and McAdam also had good finishes in their stronger events. Viney finished third in the 100 free in 52.00 and McAdam joined her with a third place finish coming in the 400 IM with a time of 4:28.79.

Senior Lisa Fish didn't walk away as happy as she would have liked in the 1-meter dive, finishing seventh with a 220.15 points. Freshman diver Jackie Bain finished ninth with 199.95 points.

The Illini will take the next two and a half weeks to prepare for the upcoming Big Ten Championships, hosted by the Minnesota Golden Gophers on f Feb. 18-21.