Illinois Swimming and Diving Notes in PDF Format
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Feb. 15, 2005

Champaign, Ill. - The Illinois women's swimming and diving team travels to Bloomington, Ind. for the 2005 Big Ten Championships, which begin Wednesday, February 16 and run through Saturday, February 19. The competition spans four days and includes 21 events. The Illini will look to post their fastest times of the season at the conference meet.

NOVITSKY ON BIG TEN'S - "Everyone right now is in good spirits and is feeling pretty healthy. There has definitely been a lot more energy at practice, which is good and is a sign that they are coming around with their rest. They are ready to compete and will hopefully have some of their best times of the season."

Novitsky figures the field will be as tough as ever, which means everyone will need to be ready for the most important prelims in the mornings.

"Again, it's going to be a really strong field this year. In the latest Top 25, seven Big Ten teams were ranked. With that kind of competition waiting, you have to be ready to come in swim well in the prelims in the morning, which will be very important. The relays will also be huge. We have been working on those a lot to improve upon what we didn't do last year."

SEASON REVIEW - The Illini swimming and diving team posted a record of 4-8 during the 2004-05 regular season. Against conference competition, the Illini finished with a 1-6 record. The season has included its share of highlights, but it isn't over yet as they enter the Big Ten Championships looking for a strong finish.

The first meet of the season took place in Champaign as the Orange and Blue took care of opponent Louisville. The next meet came against Illinois State in Bloomington. They finished the Redbirds off with a 149-94 victory to hold an early 2-0 record. The following week saw the Illini continue with their third straight victory at Iowa State. The 3-0 Illini then traveled to Lawrence, Kan., the same weekend after the win at Iowa State, but stumbled 185-115 to suffer the first loss of the season.

The Indiana Invitational featured some of the top teams from the region and gave Illinois an early test of what was to come later in the season. The Illini would finish fifth out of the eight teams. Before the winter break, the Illini returned home for their last meet of the season to meet Indiana, who they just met two weeks before at the Indiana Invitational. The Orange and Blue nearly completed the thrilling match with a win, but came up short, losing 155-145.

After a month of training, the Illini went to California to compete in the Irvine Invitational. The event featured three different meets. On the first day, the Illini finished second in the distance meet and then third in the sprint meet. On the final day, Illinois took first place in the relay meet and then faired well in diving, as freshman took third place in the 1-meter.

The Illini returned the following weekend to face Michigan and Notre Dame, two Top 25 teams at South Bend, Ind. It would be a heartbreaker, as the Illini came close to knocking off Notre Dame, but fell short in the final relay and lost the meet 183-181. Illinois would also drop to the Wolverines, moving the Illini to a 3-4 mark overall. The Illini stayed on the road to travel to Evanston to take on the Northwestern Wildcats. The Wildcats had too much for the road weary Illini as they came up short 173-136. The Illini then headed to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes couldn't hold down the home pool advantage as Illinois finally broke through in a tight one, winning 152-148.

Illinois (4-5, 1-3), tried to make the solid season into a great season as they headed to the Big Ten Quad in West Lafayette, Ind. The Fighting Illini however did not have much in the tank when they hit the water as they dropped all three matchups to Minnesota, Wisconsin and host Purdue.

LAST SEASON AT BIG TEN'S - Illinois' swimming and diving team placed 11th at the Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. with 107.5 points. Michigan took first place with a score of 604.5. Illinois did have some great moments as a team. The Illini broke six school records in the 21-event meet and set 64 season best times.

HEAD COACH Sue Novitsky - Sue Novitsky is in her fifth year as head coach of the Fighting Illini. She is now 24-34 overall at Illinois. Novitsky is the fifth head coach in the history of the UI program and the first to coach an All-Big Ten performer (Anna Christiansen, 2001) and member of the United States World Championships team (Jessica Aveyard, 2001).

During her five years as head coach, the team has broken 50 school records. Eight athletes have qualified for the NCAA Championships. Those athletes earned one All-American honor and three were honorable-mention All-American honors.

DIVING COACH Billy McGowan - Billy McGowan is in his second season at Illinois as diving coach. McGowan spent three seasons as Stony Brook University, Men's and Women's Diving Coach before he joined the Illini. During his tenure at Stony Brook University he coached six ECAC qualifiers and four National qualifiers.

As a Diver, McGowan was a 1993 NCAA Division III qualifier and All-American. In 2002, he was a gold medalist in the 3-Meter at the Empire State Games.

MCGOWAN ON BIG TEN'S - "They are looking sharp and I feel they are peaking at the right time. Our plan was to be ready for this meet and we are right where we want to be. Everyone is healthy, they got the colds out of the way and are in the best shape of their lives. I feel very good heading into Big Ten's this weekend, it's a exciting time of the year for us."

The diving coach feels the Big Ten's is the premier event for his divers and it is what they have trained for all season.

"This is like a black-tie event. We have worked all year for this. I've preached Big Ten's all season long, there are other things to shoot for like the zone meet, nationals, invitationals and dual meets, but this is the black-tie event we have trained for since August and its what its all about."

VINEY SPROUTING AS SOPHOMORE - Viney has enjoyed more success early in her career than almost any Illini in school history. She broke her own 100 free record this season at the Big Ten Quad in West Lafayette, Ind. The sophomore has earned 17 individual victories this season and has three "B" standard qualifying times in the 50, 100 and 200 free. Viney currently ranks first in school history in the 50 and 100 free, and stands fifth in the 200 free. She is also a member of two relays that broke school records (200 and 800 free) last season.