After a few weeks off from competitive action, Illinois swim and dive returned to Champaign to face off against Nebraska for its senior day dual meet. The swimmers and divers started and finished strong in their events, but ultimately, Illinois fell short to Nebraska 169-131.
Emotions were flowing for the seniors as they stepped on the blocks for the last home meet of their collegiate careers. The seniors smiled as they entered the ARC swimming pool with their loved ones for one last journey, and many of them came out with powerful finishes to leave their mark on their last year on the team.
A fiery start came from the first event of the 200-yard medley relay. The Illini succeeded, with junior freestyle swimmer Sydney Stoll, freshman breaststroker Kylee Sessions, junior freestyle swimmer Logan Kuehne and senior freestyle swimmer Lily Olson finishing in first place with a time of 1:41.64.
Close behind was a second-place finish completed by junior backstroker Suvana Baskar, freshman breaststroker Gwen Bakkar, senior freestyle swimmer Sophia Burwitz and senior freestyle swimmer Laurel Bludgen. Their lane finished with a time of 1:42.52, establishing a solid start for the Illini.
The third event for this meet was the 200-yard freestyle, with highlights coming from Stoll. She dove into the pool with ease but was neck-and-neck with a Cornhusker for the majority of the race. Stoll was pulling away in the last 50 yards of the event and finished with a win and a new pool record of 1:48.72.
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Another victory came from Baskar, who held a long underwater start in the 100-yard backstroke and ended strong with a first-place finish of 54.48. Then, a couple of events later, Kuehne kicked it into high gear, coming out on top in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 23.62.
Additional wins came from Bludgen in the 100-yard freestyle event (51.33) and sophomore breaststroker Sara Jass in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:13.61). Jass also finished victoriously in the 200-yard IM, with a time of 2:00.60. Following her for a second-place finish was Stoll, with a time of 2:01.61.
From the taller end of the pool, senior diver Taylor Michael rounded out her time at the ARC pool with a score of 291.38 in the 3-meter diving event, and her twin sister, Brooke Michael, finished with a score of 271.65. Additionally, in the 1-meter diving event, freshman diver Dani O’Kelly finished fourth with a score of 266.78 and Taylor Michael came close behind her with 259.13.
The meet concluded with an intense 400-yard freestyle relay that came down to the very last second for first and second place. The Illini started strong, with a relay team that included Olson, Bludgen, Kuehne and freshman freestyle swimmer Margret Adler. Bludgen immediately took off in the second leg of the relay, inching the team ahead. The swimmers kicked hard, but ultimately came up just shy of the first-place win, finishing with a time of 3:24.44.
The defeat did not ruin the Illini’s day, as they still left the pool with warm smiles, singing the alma mater after the meet as usual. The team travels to Kentucky for the Louisville Invite on Feb. 15 and 16, hoping to cap off their season successfully before the Big Ten championships.
