Feb. 21, 2004

Minneapolis, Minn. - The Fighting Illini women's swimming and diving team completed action Saturday evening at the Big Ten Championships hosted by the University of Minnesota. Tonight's session was a farewell to senior Ilkay Dikmen who was participating in her last Big Ten Championship and finished a career best fourth in the 200 breast. The Orange and Blue scored 107.5 points, taking 11th place, while Michigan won the team title with a mark of 604.5.

"This meet was as fast as I ever remember since I've been here," Novitsky said. "Not only is it just fast, it has been one of the fastest meets to just qualify for. You really needed to be ready to go and prepared because this meet expected your best."

Dikmen's finish of fourth in the 200 breast was a best for her career, but Head Coach Novitsky saw something she liked even better in her last Big Ten performance. "Ilkay's swim today was great. Her time in the final was the fastest in a final since she's been here and that's what I love to see," Novitsky said. "She tries so hard to do her best and I am just glad to see that she raced till the end."

The freshman from Kentucky, Barbie Viney, set the school's sixth record Saturday night in the 100 free in a time of 50.60 while finishing 11th. Illinois as a team broke six school records in the 21 event meet and set 64 season best times.

Novitsky will be missing a lot of experience from this squad come next year, but she couldn't be more pleased from what she saw with the underclassmen. "We have a lot of youth coming through in the next few years that will be replacing some good experienced swimmers," Novitsky said. "This meet was a great opportunity for our younger swimmers to gain the experience that will help them in years to come. I thought they did a great job this week by keeping their composure in key situations and most of all they helped our team get better throughout this meet with their toughness.

Another senior who competed for the last time in the Big Ten Championship was Crystal McAdam. McAdam finished a wonderful career in Big Ten competition Saturday night in the 200 fly finishing in 14th position in a time of 2:04.35. Junior Trisha Lakatos finished 16th in the 200 breast.

The last relay of the championships was the 400 free relay. Illinois' team of Viney, Christina Brunka, Meghan Farrell, and McAdam wrapped up the meet in 10th place touching out in 3:25.18.

In the platform dive, Senior Lisa Fish finished 20th with a score of 263.75.