Dec. 4, 2009

Stats

OXFORD, Ohio - In day two of action at the Miami (OH) Invitational, the Fighting Illini swimming and diving team moved up three spots and now sits in fourth place with 578 points. Host Miami (OH) took over the top spot with 1,218 points, followed by Florida Gulf Coast (748), Emory (741), Illinois (578), Denison (531), Oakland (509), Cincinnati (393), Wright State (366) and newly-added Milwaukee (116) and Tsinghua (36).

"Coming into the finals this evening, we took a big step forward as a team," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "We took responsibility and were proactive about our races. We have one more day tomorrow and it's an opportunity for us to take advantage."

The Illini posted several season-best times on the day, including Kristen Kloeckener in the 200 freestyle (1:53.72), Erin Rodriguez in the 200 butterfly (2:05.94) and Meghan Mason in the 50 free (24.59). Additional season bests also were recorded in the 200 free relay (1:36.78), which included Kristen Manias, Amy Johnson, Anna Johnson and Mason, and by both Orange and Blue 400 medley relay teams, comprised of CeCe Marizu, Amy Johnson, Brittany McGowan and Manias in the "A" final (3:53.76), and Anna Johnson, Rachel Japp, April McKee and Mason in the "B" final (3:54.22).

On the boards, Britni Fisher placed fourth in the three-meter dive, tallying 269.95 points.

The invitational concludes tomorrow with preliminaries beginning at 9 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Live coverage of the finals, which is available online for a minimal fee, can be found HERE.

Saturday (Prelims at 9:00 a.m. / Finals at 6:00 p.m.)
200 Medley Relay
200 Backstroke
500 Freestyle
100 Butterfly
200 Breaststroke
100 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
3-Meter Diving
1-Meter Diving
400 Freestyle Relay