University of Illinois
Missouri Invitational
Illinois to Compete at Missouri Invitational
November 15, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
| Missouri Invitational | |
|---|---|
| When | Thursday, Nov. 16 - Saturday, Nov. 18 |
| Where | Mizzou Aquatic Center, Columbia, Missouri |
| Live Scoring | Live Stats |
| Start Times |
Thursday: Prelim - 10:00 AM // Finals - 6:00 PM Friday: Prelim - 10:00 AM // Finals - 6:00 PM Saturday: Prelim - 10:00 AM // Finals - 6:00 PM |
| Information | Mutigers.com |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini women's swimming and diving team will be competing in its first prelim/final meet this season, as the team heads to Columbia, Missouri, for the annual Missouri Invitational. UI placed second out of 10 teams a year ago, finishing with a score of 637.
"There is a lot of great competition and that definitely helps with us typically posting some of our best times on the season at this meet," said head coach Sue Novitsky. "We have put in a lot of racing and this meet allows us to fine tune things heading into the second half of the season. We don't rest for this meet, but we have entered a different cycle of training in the past couple weeks and that should show in the team's performances."
The Illini will see competition from 10 schools, including host Missouri. In addition to the host team, the Orange and Blue will face off against UC Davis, Wyoming, Drury, Nebraska, South Dakota State, Oklahoma Baptist, Cincinnati, Iowa State and Nebraska-Omaha.
"The Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships are prelim/final as well and you have to be able to compete well in the morning to earn a spot in finals," Novitsky said. "The more experience the team gets competing multiple times over the course of three days, the better. Some of our athletes could be swimming as many as 14 races over the six sessions and you have to be fit, focused and just plain tough to handle that load."
Preliminary action will begin on Thursday, November 16, at 10 a.m. CT at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
"We are looking for the team to step up and compete in every single event," Novitsky added. "We have an opportunity to put up a lot of season bests in the pool and on the boards and we need to take advantage of each opportunity."
LAST TIME OUT
The Fighting Illini traveled to Miami, Florida, for a two-day dual meet against Florida International. UI came up short, falling to the Panthers 251.5-166.5.
NEXT UP
The Missouri Invite marks the last competition of 2017 for the Illini, as the team will be back in action on January 12-13, in Iowa City, Iowa, to take on Iowa and Notre Dame.
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