Nov. 20, 2011
Complete Results
EVANSTON, Ill. - In the final day of the three-day Northwestern Invitational, the Fighting Illini swimming and diving team captured a second-place finish with 694 points. Northwestern, which never trailed throughout the meet, claimed first place with a score of 866, while Iowa State took third with 693 points.
"Today, we came back and were steady again this morning," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "Iowa State had a great day and swam really well to close the gap, but we ended up touching the wall before them at the end of the 400 free relay. Hopefully that becomes a character-builder for us. We have to understand what kind of quality and intensity you have to bring in that situation, which we were able to do tonight. To be in that situation and be able to pull through was good to see."
The Orange and Blue got off to a solid start once again, as senior Brittany McGowan captured a fifth-place finish in the 50 fly with the fourth-fastest performance in school history (25.71). Earlier in the day, McGowan replaced her own school record with the fastest 50 fly in Illini history (25.49) during prelims. McGowan also scored points for the team with her performance in the 200 fly (2:08.25).
Freshman Alison Meng turned in a solid performance as well, finishing fifth in the 50 back (26.72), making her the fourth-fastest Illini to swim the event with the seventh-fastest performance in school history. Meng placed seventh in the 50 fly, securing a personal-best time of 25.87 to become the fifth-fastest individual with the seventh-best performance in Illini history after posting the ninth-fastest performance in school history (25.91) during prelims.
Senior April McKee also had success in the 50 fly, placing ninth in the finals with the third-fastest performance in school history (25.67), making her the second-fastest Illini to swim the event. Sophomore Courtney Pope became the ninth-fastest Illini in the event with her prelim time of 26.14. Pope also placed fifth in the 100 free (51.56) after swimming a personal-best 51.16 in prelims, making her the eighth-fastest Illini to swim the event.
Senior Kristen Manias placed ninth in the 50 back (26.83), making her the fifth-fastest Illini to swim the event. Manias also placed eighth in the 100 free (52.05), while senior Torrey Loper continued her successful weekend as well, capturing third-place with a personal-best time of 16:57.62 in the 1650 free. She also scored points for the Illini in the 200 back with a time of 2:07.82.
Sophomore Jessica Holz continued her success in the 200 back this season, placing third in the event (2:02.71) after replacing her old time as the seventh-fastest Illini to swim the event with a 2:02.39 in prelims. She also scored points for the team in the 50 back (27.81). Fellow sophomore Erica Lynn earned seventh in the 200 breast with a lifetime-best 2:20.15, making her the 10th-fastest Illini to swim the event.
Other top-10 finishers for the Orange and Blue included freshman Kayla Dlugopolski, who earned seventh place in the 1650 free with a personal-best 17:19.41, junior Erin Lamb, who swam to a seventh-place finish in the 100 free (51.95), fellow junior Kathleen Knight, who also finished seventh in the 200 fly with a personal-best time of 2:06.77 and classmate Erin Rodriguez, who finished eighth in the 200 fly (2:06.65).
Also contributing points were sophomore Marin Thompason in the 200 back with a personal-best 2:06.54, junior Sarah Coady in the 200 back (2:07.73) and classmate Alyssa Petruzzello, who became the seventh-fastest Illini to swim the 50 free with the 10th-fastest performance in school history (25.97).
The Illini ended the night on a high note with a third-place finish in the 400 free relay, as the team of Pope, Lamb, Manias and McGowan captured the fastest time (3:25.72) this season in that event.
On the boards, senior Britni Fisher placed eighth and captured the fifth-highest platform dive score in Illini history with a 151.90, while junior Keri Eberhardt finished ninth with a score of 131.55.
The Illini will return to action in January, when they travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes in a Big Ten battle on Jan. 14 at 11 a.m. CT.
