The swim portion of Illinois swim & dive did not compete from Sunday to Tuesday. Instead, the latter portion, the dive team, went down to the plains of Auburn and competed in the Auburn Diving Invite.

The invitational, which featured hosts Auburn along with the University of Tennessee and LSU, wasn’t so kind to the Illini, who finished mostly at the bottom of the standings. 

On day one, four Illinois divers competed in the one-meter dive. Junior Brooke Michael and sophomore Hannah Hong recorded personal bests, finishing with a score of 258.35 and 210.80 respectively. Michael finished 13th and Hong finished 17th. Senior Erin Young recorded a final score of 248.35, finishing 14th. Freshman Abby Manos recorded a final score of 204.2, finishing 16th.

On day two, twins Taylor and Brooke Michael led the way in the three-meter dive, finishing, respectively, 12th and 13th. Taylor had a final score of 268.55, and Brooke had a final score of 264.35. The other two divers who competed, Young and Hong, both finished again at the bottom. Young with a final score of 238.25, and a finish of 16th, and Hong with a final score of 216.05, and a finish of 17th. 

Not much changed on the third and final day. The Illini finished, in order, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th out of 16 competitors in the platform dive. Young dove a personal best 189.85, finishing first out of all Illini. Manos also recorded a personal best, recording a score of 167.35 and finishing second-best of all Illini. Michael recorded a 166.00 score and Hong recorded a score of 131.65. 

The “swim” in Illinois Swim and Dive returns to action Saturday, January 7th, against Purdue at home in the ARC Pool.

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