Champaign, Ill. - The Fighting Illini diving team will send a pair of divers to Chicago to compete in the UIC Diving Invitational on Saturday, February 4. Sophomore Madeline Kuhn and freshman Lauren LaPeter will represent Illinois against a field of competition that includes: UIC, Illinois State, Olivet Nazarene, UW Milwaukee, UW Green Bay, UW Oshkosh, Lincoln College and Lake Forest College.

"The invite will afford the divers one more opportunity to perform their dive lists in a competitive environment prior to conference championships," said diving coach Chris Waters. "We do our best to mimic the meet environment in practice but there's no substitute for the real thing."

Both Kuhn and LaPeter will compete in one-meter diving, as well as three-meter diving competition. Kuhn posted a season-best one-meter score of 257.62 against Nebraska. The sophomore also recorded a season-best score of 276.40 in three-meter competition at Northwestern. LaPeter posted a season-best one-meter score of 208.65 against Arkansas, as well as a season-best three-meter score of 223.30 against Southern Illinois and Illinois State.

"This competition will be a great chance to rehearse routines and gain confidence heading into the Big Ten Championships," said Waters.

The meet will mark the end of the regular season for the Illini swimmers and divers, who will then head to West Lafayette, Indiana, to compete in the Big Ten Championships, which will be held from February 15-18.