Nov. 2, 2011
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team will travel to East Lansing, Mich., to take on Michigan State Friday night, before traveling to Chicago to face off with Illinois-Chicago and Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon in the team's first tri-meet of the season. The Illini boast a 12-9 all-time record against Michigan State and are 2-0 all-time against Illinois-Chicago, a team Illinois has not met since the 1979-80 season. The upcoming tri-meet will mark the first meeting between the Illini and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"As usual, it will probably be a very close meet between the Spartans and ourselves," Illini head coach Sue Novitsky said. "We typically have competitive meets, which is another great situation for us to be in. Then to compete in back-to-back days, it adds another variable, where it's not just one and done. This is good prep for us for our invitationals and Big Tens, especially having to drive in the middle. It throws a couple of wrenches in there and helps them learn how to deal with adversity and be able to step up again and perform the next day."
The Orange and Blue enter the weekend with an 0-2 record, coming off a 174.5-118.5 loss at Kansas in which Illini sophomore Jessica Holz claimed her second first-place finish in the 200 back in as many meets. Michigan State is 2-1 on the season with wins over Oakland and Cleveland State. The Spartans return home for Friday's meet after suffering their first loss of the season at Iowa.
Illinois-Chicago brings a 2-0 record to Saturday's tri-meet with wins over Wright State and Eastern Illinois this season. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is 1-2 on the season with its lone win coming over Grand Valley State.
"The tri-meet is going to be a fun meet," Novitsky said. "I'm glad we had the opportunity to be included. It provides us another opportunity to get some more races in, in more events. Wisconsin-Milwaukee was represented at the NCAA Championships last year, so they have some really strong athletes, as does UIC."
Visit fightingillini.com for complete results and recap at the conclusion of each day's events.
