Results (PDF)

Evanston, Ill. – The Illinois swimming and diving team dropped its first meet of the season, falling to Northwestern, 160-140, Friday night in Evanston. However, the Illini still took home nine first-place finishes in the season opener.

“I was really happy with how they competed,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “I thought that on the boards and in the pool we were competing well. We had opportunities to pull off the win in this meet.”

Senior Alison Meng played a role in four of the Illini’s first-places finishes on the night. In the 100 back, Meng touched the wall first in a time of 54.81, an NCAA “B” cut time and the fifth-fastest performance by an Illini in the event. Meng claimed her second individual first-place finish at the meet in the 100 fly (55.56). Meng also led off the winning 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.

Freshmen Samantha Stratford, junior Lori Lynn and senior Megan Marchuk rounded out the 200 medley relay team that claimed victory with a time of 1:44.12. In the winning 400 free relay, sophomore Gabbie Stecker and freshmen Gabrielle Bethke would join Meng and Marchuk to swim a time of 3:26.76. Stecker claimed multiple individual victories for the Illini on the night as well, finishing first in both the 200 free (1:51.41) and 500 free (4:58.10).

Newcomers Stratford and Bethke were quick to make an impression in the Orange and Blue. Stratford was the fastest in the 200 breast (2:18.90) and 200 IM (2:04.27), good for eighth on Illinois’ all-time list, while also taking second in the 100 breast (1:04.49), placing her 10th on Illinois’ top-10 list. Bethke placed second in the 100 free (52.58) and fourth in the 50 free (24.26) in her collegiate debut.

“They had some great races,” Novitsky said of Stratford and Bethke. “It was great to see from them. They were very nervous before the meet, but they were able to step up and were able to stay calm. They were able to race well and cleaned some things up as the meet went on so they only got better with each event.”

Illinois’ third-place finishers included sophomore Amelia Schilling in the 500 free (4:58.10) and 1000 free (10:18.01), freshman Sascha Meyers in the 200 free (1:53.56), Marchuk in the 100 free (52.61) and junior Sloane McDermott in the 200 back (2:07.60).

The Illini swimmers who finished fourth individually on the night were Marchuk in the 200 free (1:53.56), junior Jennifer Coady in the 100 breast (1:06.60), Lynn in the 200 butterfly (2:06.79) and Kaitlyn Joyce in the 200 back (2:10.74). The Orange and Blue also placed fourth in both relay events, with Stecker, junior Hollie Smith, junior Sarah Sykstus and Bethke in the 200 medley relay (1:47.44), while seniors Sabrinne Gibson and Hailey Booth teamed up with Meyers and Schilling in the 400 free relay (3:33.17).

Also scoring for the Illini with fifth-place finishes were senior Kayla Dlugopolski in the 1000 free (10:27.94), junior Sloane McDermott in the 100 back (59.42), Smith in the 100 breast (1:06.95), Sykstus in the 100 fly (57.16) and 200 fly (2:06.85), Lynn in the 200 IM (2:09.63) and Coady in the 200 breast (2:24.94).

On the boards, sophomore Olivia Kassouni took first place in the three-meter dive (272.55), while senior Erika Murphy finished in third (246.53) and freshmen Raquel Corniuk placed fourth (232.73) in the event. In the one-meter dive, Murphy took second with a score of 242.63.

“We have to go back to work, and there are a lot of things we have to keep working on,” Novitsky said. “Our turns could have been a lot better. We got out-touched at the wall and we just need to work on cleaning up those details and try to keep focus.”

The Illini will return to action against Illinois State and Southern Illinois on Saturday, November 1st at 10 a.m. CT in Normal, Ill.