Dec. 3, 2010
Complete Results
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team finished its first day of action at the Hawkeye Invitational earlier tonight in third place after tallying 249 points through six events. The Illini will work tomorrow to close the gap between current first- and second-place teams Denver (314 points) and Iowa (289 points).
"I thought we were pretty solid," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "A lot of the girls who had final swims tonight were able to come back and perform better during finals. I also had girls who had multiple races in the finals session, like Courtney Pope, who had three races tonight - two relays and the 500 free. It was a pretty tough lineup, so it was good to see all of them trying to take it one race at a time, maintain their focus and put together solid races. We had a lot of lifetime-best times today, which was also good to see in the middle of the season, not fully rested. We're learning how to put a meet together. It was good to see us step in there and get some final swims."
The Orange and Blue began the night with third- and fourth-place finishes in the 200 free relay, as sophomore Erin Lamb, freshman Elizabeth Bell and juniors Brittany McGowan and Kristen Manias posted a season-best time of 1:34.18.
The relay success continued later in the night with third- and sixth-place finishes in the 400 medley relay, with freshman Cara Chuang, senior Corey Kasten, McGowan and Manias posting another season-best time (3:49.81) for the Illini.
Fourteen swimmers, including senior Meghan Mason in two events - the 500 free and 50 free, represented the Illini in the individual-event finals after advancing in the preliminary round this afternoon.
Junior Torrey Loper secured a personal-best time of 4:58.41 to finish fourth in the 500 free, while Lamb placed fourth in the 50 free (23.70) after posting a personal-best time of 23.64 in prelims and replaced her own time on the all-time charts as the 10th-fastest Illini in that event. Joining them with another fourth-place finish was senior Ann Miller, who posted a lifetime-best time of 2:05.13 in the 200 IM, making her the 10th-fastest individual in the 200 IM in school history.
The Illini were also aided by junior April McKee, who secured a fifth-place finish in the 200 IM with a personal-best time of 2:06.05, while Pope finished sixth in the 500 free (5:00.76), and Manias placed eighth in the 50 free (23.96).
Also contributing to the point total for Illinois were McGowan, with a personal-best time of 23.94 in the 50 free, Bell (23.94 - 50 free) and Kalenda, with a lifetime-best time of 24.03 in the 50 free. In the 500 free, junior Kelly Kunkel posted a personal-best time of 5:00.53, while Mason posted a lifetime-best time of 5:05.82 in prelims.
On the boards, sophomore Lauren Wismer and junior Britni Fisher each dove in the one-meter finals, placing seventh (264.60) and eighth (245.30), respectively.
The Illini will continue action at the Hawkeye Invitational Saturday at 10 a.m. Live stats will be available at http://stats.iowaswimming.com. Visit fightingillini.com for complete results and recap.
