Swimming and diving started its regular season with a win less than 24 hours after competing in its second meet of the season.

The Illini hosted two competitions this weekend, facing each other in the Orange and Blue scrimmage Friday night, then taking on Louisville Saturday.

“Against Louisville, we had a number of people stepping up throughout the competition,” said head coach Sue Novitsky. “We ended up exhibitioning some of the individual events at the end.”

Illinois defeated the Cardinals 171-119, an effort that belonged to the team as a whole. Illinois’ solo first-place finishes were distributed among nine swimmers, with sophomore Meghan Farrell being the only one to win two events.

Farrell won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races, swimming 24.79 in the 50 and 53.58 in the 100.

“She’s been one who’s been improving since she got here,” said Novitsky. “She’s a lot stronger physically; she really worked on that last year and over the summer. She came in pretty fit.”

Farrell was also part of the first-place finishing 200-yard medley relay, which also included juniors Christina Brunka and Kathryn Easey and sophomore Barbie Viney. That team beat fellow Illini sophomores Michelle Grandcolas, Caroline Moore and Becca Poetz, and senior Trisha Lakatos.

Farrell is just one example of Illinois’ promise in freestyle. Senior Kirsten Koepcke and Viney are other swimmers who have potential to be important assets for the squad.

Viney set an Orange and Blue Meet record Friday and recorded her first win of the season by finishing the 500-yard freestyle in 4:57.24 Saturday. As a freshman last year, she set school records in the 50 and 100 free and won every event she competed in at home.

“A lot of it is just to have a year’s experience,” Novitsky said. “Last year, coming in she was very nervous, not just about swimming but about the whole college atmosphere. Now she’s a little more focused, better able to balance.”

Koepcke is one of four seniors on the squad, and brings both experience and leadership to a team that is dominated by underclassmen.

“Kirsten has a lot of energy, and she’s very motivated,” Farrell said. “She just brings a lot of energy and excitement to all the meets. Being a senior this year, she is definitely a team leader.”

While the level of competition this weekend was lighter than what the Illini will face in the rest of the season, Farrell said it helped the team get an idea of where it stands.

“It’s good just for the freshmen to get used to what meets are like and to get back into racing,” Farrell said. “It was a good level of competition, good to get back from the summer.”