Dec. 3, 2009

Final Stats

OXFORD, Ohio - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team completed its first day at the Miami (OH) Invitational earlier today at the Corwin Nixon Natatorium, finishing in seventh place with 90 points in the 800 freestyle relay and 1650 freestyle. Florida Gulf Coast currently holds the top spot with 134 points, followed by Miami (OH) (126), Wright State (120), Denison (108), Emory (95), Oakland (93), Illinois (90) and Cincinnati (67).

"We were timid today in both events," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "The one thing I want to see as a team is to be a lot more aggressive in our races, so we can put ourselves in a position to be there in the finish. It's not something we did very well this evening and it's something we need to focus on."

In the 800 freestyle relay, the team of Kristen Kloeckener, Amy Forsberg, Kristen Manias and Meghan Mason swam to a fifth-place finish with a time of 7:37.76, while Torrey Loper led the Illini in the 1650 freestyle with a 13th-place finish (17:35.87). Amy Forsberg finished in 16th place (17.42.42) and Kelly Smithwick checked in at 21st place (17.53.91).

The Illini return to action tomorrow at 9 a.m. for day two of the invitational.