When the Illinois swimming and diving team travels to Normal, Illinois, this weekend, it will arrive to a smaller pool with bigger expectations.   

Following a week off from competition, the Illini will compete in a double-dual meet against Illinois State and Southern Illinois on Saturday.

Horton Pool at Illinois State is regarded as a small one. It was built for speed and is considered fast pool. With three teams competing simultaneously, the Illini are keying in on maintaining focused.

“It’s a small pool for three teams, so staying positive and being in the moment this weekend will be the most important thing for us to get through the meet,” senior Alison Meng said.  

Last season, the Illini had dominating performances against both the Redbirds and Salukis, winning by a scores of 206-94 and 199.5-96.5, respectively. Similar results are to be expected this time around.

“We are definitely a lot stronger than we’ve been in the past couple years,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “Overall, we’re pretty healthy — little sickness here and there — but in terms of our training, we’re at a pretty high and constant level.”

The meet is set to begin at 10 a.m. with the diving competitions and then resume at 2 p.m. for the swim events. Novitsky said this format will be challenging but will help prepare the team for similar formatting challenges later on in the season.

Even though the Illini appear to be the favorites against their Missouri Valley Conference opponents, the team is preparing for tighter competition from both teams this time around.

“Both teams had some good freshmen come in, so they’re going to be challenging,” Novitsky said. “I expect some good head-to-head races.”

Southern Illinois’ freshmen are currently shining the brightest this season. In their last meet against Missouri State, freshmen Kelsie Walker, Bryn Handley and Chandler Ott contributed in the Saluki’s 191-109 victory with six individual event wins. The trio has nine total individual event victories on the year.

For Illinois, Samantha Stratford and Gabrielle Bethke are currently considered the freshmen to watch. Sophomore Gabbie Stecker, who was the spotlighted freshman for the Illini last season, says the two should take the season one event at a time.

“My advice to (Stratford and Bethke) would be to stay relaxed and have fun,” Stecker said.     

Illinois State is also coming off a victory, defeating Division II opponent Truman State 167-110. Marissa Yontz and Rachel Root turned in solid performances for the Redbirds, both winning two individual events. Yontz won the 200- and 50-yard freestyle, while Root won the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Diver Wenting Zhang swept the diving events and earned MVC Diver of the Week for her efforts.

Look for Meng to possibly compete against Root in the 100 back and Stecker to challenge Yontz in the 200 free, as both Meng and Stecker were victorious in those events in Illinois’ first meet against the Wildcats.

“We’re getting better working on details,” Meng said. 

Daniel can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @chisports2.