Oct. 15, 2005
The University of Illinois Swimming and Diving team hit the road this weekend for their first competition of the season against Kentucky and Louisville. On Friday, the Illini finished strong but lost 179-119 to the Wildcats. Illinois then traveled to Louisville on Saturday where a slow start left the Illini to a 172-128 loss.
Despite the losses Coach Novitsky pointed out the positives on the weekend, "This weekend provided a good starting point. It was our first competitions of the year and we came out tentative, which is understandable. What I was impressed with was how we got better as the meet went along, getting better with each event."
Against Kentucky, Barbie Viney helped the cause by capturing first place finishes in the 100 (51.30) and 200 (1:52.07) free and second in the 50 (23.70) freestyle. Freshman standout Marissa Clapp swam a personal best in the 200 IM (2:09.62) taking a first place finish for the Illini. The Illini dominated the 200 IM event with Jessica Rothenberg, Meghan Bradley and Ali Keehn finishing behind Clapp, 2-3-4 respectfully. Clapp added a second place finish in the 200 breaststroke (2:21.98) to round out an impressive first time out as an Illini.
Other notable finishes came in the 100 back where freshman Katie Theissen took second with a time of 59.99. Christina Brunka took second (59.24) with Michelle Grandcolas right behind her taking third (59.36) in the 100 fly, while Rothenberg placed second in the 200 fly (2:08.96).
The Illinois divers were set back when Abbey Bernardo re-injured her foot enabling her to not compete this weekend. Despite the setback, the divers competed well with Jackie Bain taking third place in the 3-meter and Marina Mendoza taking fourth in the 1-meter.
"We went up against some very strong competition in Kentucky. I feel we did very well in our first competition and I am happy with our divers. This was Mendoza's first competition of her career and Bain performed like a veteran," commented diving coach Billy McGowan.
On Saturday, the Illini dug themselves in a hold early. After a relatively quiet first session the Illini started to heat up. In the next five events the Illini placed at least two swimmers in the top three and won three events.
Viney started things off with a first place finish in the 100 free (51.50)-her second of four first place finishes of the day. Earlier, she set a NCAA `B' meet record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.50. In the next event, the Illini took 1-3-4 finishes in the 200 backstroke. Meghan Bradley took first (2:06.61) while Mallory Craft took third (2:09.44) and Caroline Moore captured fourth (2:09.40). In the 200 breaststroke senior Kathryn Easey finished third with a time of 2:24.48 following Marissa Clapp who took second with a time of 2.22.49. Viney and Britta Jansson then took the first two places in the 500 freestyle with Viney sweeping her third event in 5:02.98. Senior Christina Brunka captured second place in the 100 fly (58.49) improving on her time from Friday. The Illini ended the meet by wining the 400 free relay in 3:29.45.
The Illinois divers took fourth place finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter. Mendoza scored a 207.23 in the 1 meter while Bain took fourth in the 3 meter with 214.73.
Coach Novitsky commented on her team's efforts, "We put our backs against the wall after the first eight events which was disappointing and something we have to work on, but we did have a great second session. This first weekend was a chance for us to identify what we need to work on. We are a young team still trying to figure out where everyone is. When we get back we have some work to do to keep on improving each competition."
