Illinois swim and dive wrapped up its first competitive meet of the season away in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday. Despite strong efforts from the swimmers and divers, the matchup concluded with a Kansas victory, who collected 169 points to Illinois’ 131 points.
This was a highly anticipated meet for the Illini, who have not competed against the Jayhawks since Nov. 4, 2014. Head coach Jeana Kempe emphasized the excitement coming from the team with their Blue versus Orange intrasquad meet last week, and she noted how they were expecting to face some tough battles going into their first meet.
Despite the loss, the Illini maintained strength throughout the meet, with many key victories earning high scores for the team.
Sophomore freestyle and IM swimmer Adelaide Reaser dominated her long-distance events, finishing first place in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:21.48) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.66).
Additionally, junior freestyle swimmer Sydney Stoll left with three first-place finishes. Stoll showed her powerful skills in the 100-yard backstroke (56.06), 200-yard backstroke (2:02.11) and 200-yard IM (2:04.75).
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Assistant coach Kyle Patnode touched on Saturday’s meet with an emphasis on using this matchup as a learning opportunity for the team.
“My goal for this program is to get one percent better every day,” Patnode said. “We learned a lot today. I thought as a team we made some improvements … We definitely have some room to grow.”
Patnode also put a spotlight on senior diver Taylor Michael and freshman diver Danielle O’Kelly, who competed in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
“They showed up and showed out,” Patnode said of the divers’ performances. “We’re a young team, we have a lot of freshmen … Their energy has been great. They’re learning and we learn a lot from them.”
Michael earned second place on the three-meter boards, scoring 293.55. O’Kelly placed third in this event with 284.93 points and placed fourth in the 1-meter dive with 240.00 points as well.
Given that it was the first dual meet of the season, there were bound to be some challenges and nervousness that came along with it.
“There’s always some element of nerves, some element of excitement,” Patnode describes. “For us now, it’s taking the lessons that we learned on some of those losses and even some of the wins into Pepperdine and UCLA.”
Illinois performed well overall, and while it may have come up short today, its season is far from over. The team travels to the West Coast for their next meet, going head-to-head in another dual meet against Pepperdine on Oct. 26.
