Feb. 16, 2011
Results
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team finished the first day of action at the Big Ten Championships Wednesday in a tie for ninth place (32 points) with Iowa. The Orange and Blue relay teams posted season-best times, in addition to securing spots on Illinois' all-time fastest relays list.
"We were a little bit tight and a little bit flat tonight," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "I think we were tense and trying too hard. We have the first races out of the way, so now we can relax and try to embrace the moment and race like we do in practice."
Wisconsin and Indiana ended the day tied for first place with 68 points each, followed by Minnesota (66), Ohio State (58), Purdue (56), Penn State (56), Michigan (54), Northwestern (46), Illinois (32), Iowa (32) and Michigan State (24).
The 200 medley relay team of freshman Cara Chuang, senior Corey Kasten and juniors Brittany McGowan and Kristen Manias secured a season-best time of 1:43.17, the third-fastest time in school history in that event, while the 800 free relay team of sophomore Erin Lamb, senior Meghan Mason, junior April McKee and freshman Courtney Pope posted a season-best time of 7:26.04, ranking ninth on Illinois' all-time fastest relays list.
"Tomorrow, we have the opportunity to keep it simple and just go race," Novitsky said. "We are ready to have those big breakthroughs. We just need to go after them and be tough."
The Illini will return to action tomorrow at 10 a.m. CT. Live results will be available HERE. For results and recap at the conclusion of each day's events, visit fightingillini.com.
Schedule of Events
Trials will begin at 10 a.m. CT, Finals at 5:30 p.m. CT
Thursday, Feb. 17 // Trials & Finals
200 Free Relay
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
One-Meter Dive
Friday, Feb. 18 // Trials & Finals
400 Medley Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
Three-Meter Dive
Saturday, Feb. 19 // Trials & Finals
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform Dive
400 Free Relay
