IOWA CITY, Iowa. – On day three of the Big Ten Championships, the Illinois swimming and diving team added five times that ranked in the top-10 on the all-time fastest individuals list, highlighted by two school records set by freshman Divya Kale. The Illini are in 12th place with a three-day total of 163.
"We had a really strong day overall," said head coach Sue Novitsky. "Taylor backing up her performance on 1-meter with another strong day on the boards. Aby Olson made her first big ten finals and the relay put together a strong swim. We had numerous lifetime and season bests on the day and it all started right from the start this morning with the 100 fly. We have one more day and need to keep focusing on one event at a time.
Kale etched her name in the record book in after swimming in the 100 breaststroke prelims. The Naperville, Ill., native had the fifth fastest individual time with a split of :29.44 in the 50 breaststroke and the seventh fastest in the 100 breaststroke with 1:02.98.
Fellow freshman Athena Salafatinos also made a splash in the Illini record book with the eighth fastest individual time of :55.00 in the 100 backstroke prelims, marking a personal best. Salafatinos also clocked a lifetime best :55.95 in the prelims of the 100 butterfly.
Senior Kristin Anderson claimed the fourth fastest individual time in the 50 freestyle in program history with a :23.08, during the 200 freestyle relay. The relay, membered by Anderson, junior Emma Curtis, junior Gabrielle Loeck and sophomore Abigail Cabush, finished with the eighth fastest relay time of 1:32.34.
Redshirt senior Aby Olson touched the wall with a time of :54.38 in the 100 backstroke prelims to place 22nd overall to continue on to the C Finals of the event. Olson finished eighth in the C Finals, and 24th overall, after swimming a time of :55.13.
Sophomore Taylor Shegos reached the A Finals of the three-meter dive after completing the prelims of the event with a score of 281.85, which was good for eighth place. The Fenton, Mich., native totaled a 261.90 in the finals to also take eighth-place overall.
The Orange and Blue saw 11 lifetime-bests and five season bests set on the day.
Ohio State leads with 1,016 points, followed by Michigan (855), Indiana (680), Northwestern (580), Minnesota (473), Wisconsin (453), Purdue (388), Penn State (365), Iowa (316), Nebraska (248), and Rutgers (209). Michigan State rounds out the field with 158 points.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, Feb. 22 (Preliminaries at 10 a.m., Finals at 6:30 p.m.)
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (1 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle (4:15 p.m.)
400-yard Freestyle Relay (Heat 1 & Heat 2)
Scoring Format
A Final Scoring: 32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22
B Final Scoring: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11
C Final Scoring: 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Relay Scoring: 64-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-40-34-32-30-28
Note: Only A & B finals (championship & consolation) will be contested in the diving events.
Watch the Championships
The Big Ten Championships will be streamed live via BTN Plus on BTN2Go. Complimentary access to BTN2Go is available to viewers connected to the internet network of a Big Ten university. Fans elsewhere can sign up for the pay-per-view webcasts.
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