University of Illinois
Missouri Invitational
Fighting Illini Place Second at Missouri Invitational
November 19, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Illinois Swimming and Diving team placed second at the Missouri Invitational after wrapping up the action on Saturday.
"We had some work to do tonight to catch Wyoming heading into the last swim session," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "Once again people stepped up and gave tremendous efforts in their final races. It is exciting when after three days of competition in the pool and in the boards it comes down to the last relay. All of our relays were able to give on more tremendous effort for the team."
Host Missouri won the event with 1,332 points. The Fighting Illini finished in second place with 637 points, followed by Wyoming (619), Drury (507) and UNLV (296). Competing in diving events only, LSU scored 69 points, followed closely by Nebraska (62), Wisconsin (58), Texas A&M (35), Iowa State (12), North Dakota State, Northern Colorado and SMU to round out the field.
Placing third in the 200 breast, Ashley Aegerter turned in an NCAA 'B' time of 2:15.51. Gabriele Serniute also had a great race in the event, placing sixth and clocking a 2:16.84 in the prelims for the eighth-best time in program history.
The 400 free relay team of Audrey Rodawig, Gabrielle Bethke, Megan Vuong and Samantha Stratford placed fifth after turning in a time of 3:22.51, good for eighth-best in Illinois history.
"At the mid-point of the season the team is in a solid spot with our training and fitness," Novitksy said. "Coming off one day of rest we put together great races over the three days and had numerous lifetime bests and NCAA B standards. For a young team they gained some valuable experience and learned some lessons. Now we get back to work to head into the second half of the season."
Up Next
The Illini will have a long break before they will host the University of Arkansas at home on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. at the ARC Pool.
