Feb. 15, 2012
Results
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team finished the first day of action at the Big Ten Championships in ninth place (32 points) Wednesday night. The Orange and Blue relay teams set two school records in addition to posting season-best times and securing spots on Illinois' all-time fastest relays list.
"Starting off the 200 medley relay with two school records is a great way to get going," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "We put ourselves in a good position."
Wisconsin ended the day in first place with 72 points, followed by Indiana (68), Minnesota (66), Ohio State (64), Penn State (54) and Purdue (54), Northwestern (46), Iowa (40), Illinois (32), Michigan (26), Nebraska (24) and Michigan State (24).
The Illini started the championships off strong, setting two school records during the 200 medley relay. Freshman Alison Meng led off the 200 medley relay with the fastest 50 back in school history (25.88). The 200 medley relay team of Meng, seniors April McKee and Brittany McGowan and sophomore Courtney Pope secured a season-best time of 1:41.94, the fastest time in school history.
Meanwhile, the 800 free relay team of junior Erin Lamb, senior Kristen Manias, junior Kelly Kunkel and Pope posted a season-best time of 7:22.08, tying for third on Illinois' all-time fastest relays list. Both relay finishes qualify as NCAA provisional B times.
In the three-meter diving exhibition, senior Britni Fisher and junior Darragh McDermott placed seventh out of eight teams.
"We're swimming well and we got off to a good start," Novitsky said. "Now it's time to head back tomorrow when individual events start and keep racing strong. We had a lot of individuals with great splits tonight, so it's always great to start it off with a couple of relays. Now we have to keep the ball rolling and see what we're able to do with it."
The Illini will return to action tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT.
Schedule of Events
Trials will begin at 11 a.m. CT, Finals at 6:30 p.m. CT
Thursday, Feb. 16 // Trials & Finals
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
One-meter Diving
Friday, Feb. 17 // Trials & Finals
400 Medley Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
Three-meter Diving
Saturday, Feb. 18 // Trials & Finals
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform Diving
400 Free Relay
