In preparation for the upcoming season, the Illinois swimming and diving team faced off in its annual Orange vs. Blue intrasquad meet on Saturday. Strong efforts came from both teams, ultimately concluding with a Blue victory (150) over Orange (138).
The intrasquad meet began with the 400-yard medley relay, with the Orange team dominating in the breaststroke legs of the event. Orange came out victorious in this first event, finishing with a time of 4:00:36 with swimmers junior Logan Kuehne, sophomore Sara Jass, freshman Abby Ninan and junior Sydney Stoll.
Sydney Stoll, the freestyle swimmer competing on the Orange team, succeeded in multiple areas of this meet. She competed in the 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard backstroke, 150-yard backstroke and 100-yard IM.
“We were all very excited,” Stoll noted. “We’ve been training for about six weeks now, we were ready to race, we’ve been racing a little bit in practice, so everyone was super excited, and it was a good way to kickstart the season before our first real meet.”
Stoll’s first individual event was the 100-yard backstroke, in which she raced to first place, ending with a time of 57:26 over five other swimmers. She situated herself firmly on the diving board and launched herself backward into the water, making long strides as she swam the four laps in the pool.
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“I just think about how long the race really is compared to what I do in a practice,” Stoll said. “In practice, we do way more, so I try to put it in perspective and tell myself that it’s gonna hurt, but you can push through the pain.”
After the penultimate race, the Orange team got ahead of Blue from a 58:25 win from Stoll in the 100-yard IM, bringing the score to 114-110. The deciding factor in the outcome of the meet was the 5×110-yard freestyle relay, with the Blue team finishing strong to come out on top against Orange.
Despite the 12-point deficit behind the Blue team, Stoll and the other swimmers on the Orange side left the meet with great attitudes, ready to continue the season against upcoming contenders.
Additionally, noteworthy performances came from many freshmen divers, including Matilda Garcia, Bethany Mercer, Elleka Boeres, Danielle O’Kelly and Elle Crisostomo. The freshmen, along with their senior counterpart, Taylor Michael, all gracefully dove into the pool with sharp entries from the three-meter diving board and tight synchronization with their diving partners.
The team, led by head coach Jeana Kempe, was proud of the work they demonstrated in the pool today and elaborated on the spirit of the swimmers overall.
“I thought from an energy standpoint, they were ready to go,” Kempe said. “This is always a fun meet. They’ve been talking smack all week to each other. … However, I thought this year we were exponentially better than we were last year, so I am really excited about that.”
There was a beaming atmosphere in the facility, with fans and swimmers cheering their loudest, even if the match was just an intrasquad meet.
Kempe has started her second season as head coach with high hopes for the swimming and diving team. She anticipates fierce competition going into next week against Kansas.
“We talk about it all the time; details are always important, right?” Kempe said. “For us, it’s going to be relay exchanges and really just getting in sync, ready to go. Kansas is going to be a really tough meet. It’s going to be a really close meet. …We talked about every point mattering and every person really participating. It’s a big deal.”
Illinois swimming and diving kicks off its regular season against the University of Kansas this Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas next week, expecting to undergo intense battles against their roster.
