Three Illinois swim and dive athletes — junior Sydney Stoll, freshman Gwen Bakker and freshman Kylee Sessions — competed at the Louisville Invite this weekend.
The day was filled with broken records for the Illini. Stoll broke her record for the 100 IM with a time of 55.68, which also broke the school record for Illinois. Stoll almost swam a new personal best and school record in the 100 butterfly as well, finishing just 0.03 seconds shy at 54.27.
Stoll spoke about the excitement she had after breaking the record. She noted that it makes her look forward to the Big Ten championships since her body, despite not being fully rested, can go and break records.
“It’s pretty exciting because my body isn’t fully rested yet,” Stoll said. “That just showed me that Big Tens is going to be really fun and really exciting.”
The Illini were without their entire team this weekend. It was an effect that Stoll noticed while competing and it was a little sad to not be there with the regular group. Despite that, Stoll mentioned that she will still get to swim with her teammates at the Big Ten championships this upcoming week.
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“It was a lot quieter,” Stoll said. “Our team does a really good job at showing support and making sure you have somebody behind your lane cheering for you. It was a little sad to swim without them. I know I still have Big Tens with them.”
Stoll was not the only one who saw impressive times from this meet. Sessions swam a 57.81 on the 100 IM which placed her third in Illinois’ records. Sessions also swam a 1:03.89 on the 100 breaststroke which was just 0.89 seconds short of being a top-10 mark for the program. Bakker’s halfway point split for the 100 breaststroke also placed her at third in program history at 29.14.
Support and coaching can go a long way; Stoll mentioned that the coaching staff at Illinois is always there to help them or to talk to them if they need it. Above all, they are always proud of them.
“They’re always proud of everything I do,” Stoll said. “They are always there whenever you need them.”
It has been an irregular stretch for the team, as issues with its pool have caused practices to be moved to a local high school. Despite the expectation that the problem will be resolved before the Big Ten championships, Stoll mentioned the team has had extra nerves due to being away from home.
“There’s quite a bit of nerves going around the team,” Stoll noted. “We haven’t been in our pool.”
Illinois swim and dive will be competing in the Big Ten championships in West Lafayette, Indiana, from Feb. 21-24, with the Boilermaker Long Course Time trials taking place on Feb. 25.
