March 2, 2009
Final Stats
Bloomington, Ind. - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team finished out their regular season this past weekend at the Last Chance Meet hosted by Indiana. While no team scores were kept, the meet provided the opportunity for swimmers to swim faster and participate in events that they may not have been able to at last week's Big Ten Championships.
"Overall there were some individuals that were able to put together some good performances this past weekend," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "Courtney Spivak and Kristen Kloeckener swam two lifetime-best times. Marissa Clapp swam a lifetime-best in the 100 fly and had a solid swim in the 200 breaststroke. It is always a difficult environment to try to swim faster and it was good to see people just step-up and swim without all of the fanfare. For the future it will help out the coaches to continue to learn more about each individual athlete and how they respond to the training."
While the full team did not travel, 14 swimmers represented the Illini in Bloomington.
Marissa Clapp became the seventh-fastest all-time individual in the 100 fly with a time of 56.25, a lifetime-best time. Clapp also swam the fourth-fastest all-time performance in the 200 breast with a time of 2:14.24.
Courtney Spivak swam two lifetime-best times and a season-best time Saturday. Spivak's lifetime-bests came from the 100 fly (1:01.49) and 200 free (2:01.54). The season-best was in the 200 fly with a time of 2:17.28.
Kristen Kloeckener also had a strong performance finishing with two lifetime-bests in the 50 free (24.12) and 100 fly (56.98).
Kristen Manias (58.66) and Laura Adrian (59.26) also swam to lifetime-best times in the 100 fly. April McKee swam to a season-best time of 58.58 and Brittany McGowan finished with a time of 57.41.
In the 100 free Manias and Michelle Mehnert finished with season-best times of 52.18 and 55.36, respectively. Kelly Kunkel swam to a time of 53.71, Lauren Frendreis achieved a time of 55.32 and Rachel Japp finished with a time of 55.66.
While the regular season is finished for the Orange and Blue, diver Britni Fisher will be participating in the NCAA Zone Diving Championships held March 13-15 in Minneapolis, Minn.
