Results | Highlights | Coach Novitsky Interview | Meng Interview

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois swimming & diving team hosted Nebraska at the ARC Pool on Saturday for its annual Splash Bash promotion. In front of the largest crowd at the ARC this season, the Illini defeated the Huskers, 171-129.

"We were a lot sharper this week," said head coach Sue Novitsky. "We worked a lot on our details over the course of practice this week. We are getting closer to Big Tens so the pieces should start to come together a little bit more. I was especially happy the way they rebounded emotionally after such a big weekend last weekend. They were able to regroup, get themselves up, get ready to go and compete hard today."

The day began with an Illinois win, as the 200 medley relay team of Alison Meng, Samantha Stratford, Lori Lynn and Megan Marchuk clocked 1:44.14. That time was just .14 away from the ARC Pool record of 1:44.00. Marchuk came back a couple events later and added a win in the 200 free, clocking a time of 1:53.13. Amelia Schilling and Sascha Meyers finished second and third, respectively.

In her first individual race of the day, Meng set a new pool record, completing the 100 back in a time of 55.42. Later, she broke the pool record in the 100 fly, finishing in 55.81.

The Orange and Blue added five more wins throughout the meet en route to the win. Isabella Schamber won the 100 breast in 1:06.76, while Stratford took the 200 fly in 2:04.70. Stratford also won the 200 breast (2:20.10) and the 200 IM (2:05.17). Gabbie Stecker produced the final Illinois victory of the day, winning the 500 free in 4:49.25.

"We still have some things we want to work on," explained Novitsky. "I saw a lot of improvement today, but there is always something we can do to continue to take that step to get faster each week."

The Illini will be back in action at the ARC on Saturday, Jan. 31 as they host Michigan State. On that day, the Orange and Blue will hold a Senior Day ceremony to recognize seniors Hailey Booth, Kayla Dlugopolski, Emily Fung, Sabrinne Gibson, Megan Marchuk, Callan McDermott, Alison Meng and Erika Murphy for their contributions to the program over their careers. The meet is scheduled to begin at noon.