Illinois (6-4, 0-4) dropped its two-day home meet this weekend against a pair of Big Ten opponents, falling 193-179 to Iowa (3-3, 2-2) and 194.5-177.5 to Nebraska (6-2, 1-2).
Strong start Friday night
Friday evening kicked off the three-way conference matchup, both at home in the ARC pool for the swimmers and at Iowa’s CRWC Diving Well for the divers.
Illinois took home hardware in the 400 medley relay, with two teams in the event. Sophomores Sophia Paduano, Kayla Duran, Sophia Yousuf and junior Maggie Adler were neck and neck with Iowa but placed first by four-tenths of a second, clocking in at 3:46.20. Juniors Michelle Kaner and Martina Cibulkova and sophomores Chloe Diner and Eva Allan finished third at 3:48.42.
Senior Liv Dorshorst took silver in a close 1000 freestyle, clocking in just ahead of Nebraska’s Riley Miklos at 10:17.57.
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The 100 IM was another successful event for the Illini. Diner took gold with a time of 55.80. Yousuf took fourth with the 10th-fastest swim in program history and set a new personal best of 58.78. Seniors Alex Wendel and Adelaide Reaser also set new personal bests at 1:05.25 and 59.43, respectively.
To end the night off solidly for the swimmers, the 400 freestyle team of senior Sara Jass, Cibulkova, Allan and Adler collected bronze with a 3:27.83 finish.
Among divers, junior Elle Crisostomo tied for fourth place with Nebraska senior Kelsey Clairmont in the 3-meter dive with a score of 272.20. A new face for the Illini, freshman Amelia Semple, took sixth in her Illini debut, scoring a 260.80. Junior Matilda Garcia followed behind in seventh place with a score of 252.20.
Illinois also competed in the 1-meter dive, with Garcia ending in sixth (251.70), Crisostomo in eighth (243.45) and Semple in 10th (215.85).
Diner shines gold Saturday
Despite strong swimming performances and a handful of event wins Saturday morning, the Illini still ended up in third place.
Diner had a strong performance, taking gold in three events on the day. She was part of the 200 medley relay team that won the first event of the morning. She swam alongside Paduano, Duran and sophomore Isabella Wilhelm, finishing at 1:43.42.
Diner’s success continued in the 100 breaststroke, where she collected her second gold medal with a 1:03.10 finish. Duran took silver, finishing exactly one second behind Diner at 1:04.10.
The sophomore led the way in the 200 IM, finishing in first for the third time on the day. She finished almost three seconds ahead of the next swimmer, clocking in at 2:01.79. Jass brought home bronze in the event, finishing at 2:05.19.
Diner also fought hard in the 100 butterfly, nearly collecting her fourth gold medal of the day. She fell to Nebraska junior Beatrix Tanko by two-hundredths of a second.
Paduano earned another win for the Illini, swimming ahead of her competition for the entirety of the 100 backstroke and finishing at 57.24. Jass also collected gold with a time of 2:18.86 in the 200 breaststroke. Duran followed behind in this event, collecting bronze (2:20.28).
Up next
The Illini jump back in the water next weekend for the two-day Tim Welsh Classic in South Bend, Indiana.
