Final Results

Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team played host to Nebraska on Saturday, January 21, at the ARC Pool. Though it was a very tightly contested meet, the Illini came up short to the Cornhuskers by a score of 169-131. The meet marked the end of the regular season for the Illini, as well as senior day for Audrey Rodawig, Amelia Schilling and Gabbie Stecker. Illinois finishes the regular season with a record of 7-5.

"Obviously we would have loved to send the seniors out with a win," said head coach Sue Novitsky. "But it was a very competitive meet all the way through. We never stopped competing at the end. I think we won the last three swimming events, which was great to see. We had some really great swims and a lot of season-best times."

Illinois started fast by winning the first three events of the meet. The 200 medley relay team of Stecker, Serniute, Rodawig and Vuong got things started by finishing first with a time of 1:45.85. Freshman Monica Guyett followed that performance with an impressive first-place finish in the 1000 freestyle, finishing in a time of 10:10.11. Senior Amelia Schilling kept the Illini rolling by touching the wall first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:51.25.

The seniors kept rolling on the day as Audrey Rodawig and Amelia Schilling earned first place finishes in the 50 freestyle (:24.13) and 500 freestyle (5:00.09), respectively.

Other first-place finishers included sophomore Megan Vuong, who touched the wall first in the 100 butterfly in a time of :55.71, as well as junior Samantha Stratford, who won the 200 IM, finishing with a time of 2:05.35.

The highlight of the meet came in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. The relay quartet of Rodawig, Bethke, Vuong and Schilling earned a first-place finish, as well as a new ARC Pool record, finishing in a time of 3:27.05.

On the Boards

In diving competition, sophomore Madeline Kuhn finished fourth in both the three-meter dive, as well as the one-meter dive. The Bloomington, Illinois, native finished with scores of 250.65 and 257.62, respectively. Freshman Lauren LaPeter finished in fifth-place in both competitions, earning a score of 207.60 in three-meter diving and 196.12 in one-meter diving.

Up Next

As this meet marked the end of the regular season for the Illini, the team will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, for the Big Ten Championships. Competition will span from February 15-18.