Standing on the deck, Barbie Viney had to look into the stands to find her teammates at the 2005 NCAA championships. As the only member of the Illinois swimming and diving team to qualify for NCAAs last year, Viney spent weeks practicing alone, conditioning alone, and traveling alone with just her coaches for company.

“It was different for me because I was there by myself,” Viney said. “I did feel that it was just me, not my team. I was representing not only myself, but everybody else who didn’t get the chance to be there.”

This weekend Viney is back at the NCAA championships, but this time it has not been a solo act. Viney is one of four Illini competing in Athens, Ga., taking a place among college swimming’s best athletes. The Illini hope to follow up a successful Big Ten meet with strong performances at the season’s crowning competition.

Senior Christina Brunka and juniors Meghan Farrell, Becca Poetz and Viney qualified for the 200-meter and 400-meter relays. Farrell, Poetz and Viney will also be competing in individual races.

“I never in my life thought I’d make it to NCAAs, so I’m so excited to get there and see the atmosphere and everything,” Farrell said. “I’m swimming with amazing swimmers, people who are setting national records and swimming amazing times.”

Illinois’ biggest point of pride and best hope for a strong finish will be in its relays. Head coach Sue Novitsky said this year’s sprint group was especially deep, and because of that there was tough competition for spots on the relay.

At the Big Ten conference meet, when the Illini scored their NCAA-qualifying time, Novitsky chose the top finishers from the meet’s individual races to compete in the relays.

Because relays score double points at the meet, the team is hoping for top finishes in both the 200 and 400 events.

“For me, I always try to do better on the relays,” Farrell said. “For individuals it’s points taken from the team if I screw up, but it’s an individual event. On a relay if you do bad, there’s three other girls you’re letting down.”

Viney is Illinois’ busiest competitor, swimming in three individual races: the 50, 100 and 200 free. She also claims the team’s top seed, being slotted as the No. 8 swimmer in the 100 free.

Viney said that while having experience on the national stage is a benefit, it isn’t completely calming her nerves.

“I don’t feel like I’ve done this before,” Viney said. “Last year it was a shock that I made it back, and this year I’m already in the top eight. Not that going in there it matters where you are, but it makes me nervous.”

Farrell, the anchor in the 200 free relay, is also swimming the 50 and 100 free. She said that after Illinois’ relays came close to qualifying in 2005, she’s happy to see the extra year of work pay off.

Farrell said she was surprised in high school when college coaches began recruiting her, and that standing on the podium at the Big Ten meet was a huge thrill. She said she never expected to qualify for the NCAAs.

“I think it takes a lot of pressure off me, knowing that some of these girls are Olympians,” Farrell said. “If I go and don’t get the best spot on the podium, I know that I did my best. I’m competing with them. I may not be beating them or anything, but I know I’m competing with them.”

Poetz calls herself “the wacko one.” In addition to Illinois’ two team races, Poetz is also swimming the 50 free. She said she’s most excited for the relays because Illinois has such a good opportunity for success in them – but says she is not nervous about what will happen. The relay is Illinois’ strong suit, she said, and her individual race is just good practice swimming among the nation’s elite.

“I think I’m most nervous about the relay because I know that’s where we have the best chance to do well,” Poetz said. “I want to do my best on the relay. If I don’t do that well in the individual race, oh well, as long as I do well on the relay.”

Christina Brunka is the lone senior on the NCAA team. She said she’s excited to face competition from across the United States, and knows it will be an intense meet.

Because she normally swims butterfly, the switch to an all-freestyle format has been a change of pace. But with Illinois’ times so close to the top of the pack, she’s exited to see of the team can push itself to rise at the right time.

“Right now, if we were to place in the top eight based on what the times were last year, we would have to swim faster, but not a lot faster,” Brunka said. “It’s not that much time; if we all drop one-tenth of a second, we’re right there.”

But Brunka said she’s happiest that she finally made NCAAs during her senior season.

“It’s exciting to make it, but it’s also like a relief,” Brunka said. “It’s something you aim for four entire years, and then finally senior year it happens. It’s really exciting, so I can’t wait to go out there.”