Barbie Viney earned the Illini a conference title this weekend, finishing first in the 100-meter freestyle race at the Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

Viney swam the event in 49.12 seconds after earning the top seed going into the final. Viney’s preliminary finish in 49.06 earned her an NCAA ‘A’ cut time and a guaranteed trip to the NCAA championships in Athens, Ga.

“When the [preliminaries] started I was hoping to swim well, get a good time and get a good place going into the finals,” Viney said. “When I was seeded first it added a lot of stress because I’d be the one people were trying to beat.”

Viney said earning the ‘A’ cut eliminated the pressure to swim her best, and helped her focus on swimming better than the other athletes in the race.

“I just got in there and fought like crazy for myself and for my team,” Viney said. “When I touched the wall I still didn’t know how I’d done. I was almost afraid to look for my name, then I saw my team going nuts.”

Illinois’ last Big Ten champion was Laurie Peterson, who won the 100 free in 1982.

Head coach Sue Novitsky said she expected Viney to do well, but knew that it would be a tough competition. But with two Illini in the pool – Viney and Meghan Farrell – the team had a good chance of finishing strong.

“After the prelims (Barbie) went in seeded first, but all eight girls had a chance to win the event,” Novitsky said. “We had two girls in there, Barbie and Meghan, so it was great to see both of them do well.”

Farrell finished the race in 50.27, good enough for seventh overall.

Novitsky said she was proud of the way Farrell improved on her previous finishes at the Big Ten meet. As a sophomore, Farrell made the consolation race in the 50-meter freestyle, but over the weekend she finished as one of the top eight swimmers in both the 50 and 100 free events.

“She’s been a very instrumental part of the relays and the overall team,” Novitsky said.

Illinois’ 200 free relay swam to a fourth place finish and a new school record of 1:31.50, and the 400 free relay took sixth with another school record time of 3:22.36. Illinois’ medley relays each placed seventh overall.

“Our relays did very well,” Novitsky said. “We put together some great team swims. Only the top eight get to make it to the platform, and this year all of our relays were top eight.”

The Illini finished the meet ninth overall. In 77 of 81 races the Illini swam season best times, and eight races ended in lifetime bests.

“Overall it was a very fast, competitive meet,” Novitsky said. “They came in with purpose and wanted to compete well, and we were able to pull that off and have a successful meet.”