Illinois (7-4) won its final home meet of the season Saturday morning against Eastern Illinois (0-8), blowing them out of the water 157-77. The seniors were also recognized for their hard work and dedication to the program.
Seniors leave mark
The Illini’s four seniors — Alexis Wendel, Liv Dorshorst, Sara Jass and Adelaide Reaser — will leave an enduring legacy to the program.
“We don’t know an Illini team without those four,” said head coach Jeana Kempe.
Kempe said she hopes that the underclassmen can learn how to lead with grace and truth from the seniors. She believes their legacy will stay in the program for years to come.
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Jass holds the program’s records in the 200 breaststroke (2:12.90) and the 400 IM (4:12.40), along with multiple other top-ten marks.
“I think this team is better because of who she is every day,” Kempe said of Jass. “I’m going to miss coaching Sara so tremendously.”
Jass is super competitive and does everything she can for her team, according to Kempe. Kempe recalled the CSCAA National Invitational Championships last season and described how Jass got sick right before the 400 IM finals. Although Kempe worried, Jass still wanted to race. While Jass placed tenth despite being one of the top seeds, she was happy to contribute to her team.
“(Jass) got out of the race, and she looked at me, and she’s like, ‘I scored the point,’” Kempe said. “To me, that story embodies everything that Sara means to the program.”
Dorshorst has dominated Illinois distance swimming, holding the program record for the 1,000 freestyle (9:56.73) and the 1,650 freestyle (16:33.79). After a successful freshman year, Dorshorst missed her sophomore season after undergoing knee surgery. Since then, she has been working to build her strength back.
“Liv handled her injury, her surgery and her redshirt year with so much grace,” Kempe said. “She really just kept her blinders on and knew her process of what she needed to do.”
In her returning season, Dorshorst set the program’s third-best time in the 500 freestyle.
“I’m just really happy with my senior season,” Dorshorst said. “I feel like I’m getting back into it, getting into the groove, being a good teammate.”
While distance swimming can be both mentally and physically draining, especially after a knee injury, Dorshorst has mastered her strategy during her time at Illinois.
“I like to think about other things, and I sing to myself a lot,” Dorshorst said. “Normally, either ‘Drivers License’ by Olivia Rodrigo or ‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’ by Taylor Swift, those are my go-tos.”
Reaser transferred from Truman State to swim for Illinois and holds three top-ten program times. Kempe credits her Director of Operations, Jerod Simek, for bringing Reaser to the program.
“When Adelaide went to the transfer portal, (Simek) was like, ‘Jeana, this is the most amazing girl. You’ve got to recruit her. She’s going to be the perfect fit of what we want for this program,’” Kempe said. “He couldn’t have been more spot on.”
Wendel holds the program’s third-fastest time in the 200 butterfly (2:00.43) and will remain a mentor and friend to the team.
“Alexis has grown so much in her own personality and her own maturity in the sport,” Kempe said. “She really embraced training, and it really allowed her to have those time drops.”
According to Wendel, the seniors in her freshman year were strong leaders and friends, and she hopes to leave the same legacy.
“I really enjoy the small interactions I have with every single one of my teammates on a daily basis,” Wendel said. “Those small five-to-seven-minute conversations before we start swimming have been my favorite and most impactful.”
Despite the success the seniors have already found, Kempe is hopeful for their futures.
“All four are off to bigger and better when they are done here,” Kempe said.
Senior Day sweep
The four seniors won the 200 medley relay, clocking in at 1:46.32. Sophomores Chloe Diner, Kayla Duran, Sophia Paduano and Isabella Wilhelm took first and broke the pool record (1:40.35) in a separate heat of the same event.
Jass also found gold in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.24), just 1.34 seconds shy of her Illinois program record. In the 200 butterfly, Dorshorst finished first with a time of 2:08.70.
Sophomore Kennedy Rainwater swept the long-distance races, winning the 500 freestyle (5:00.95) and the 1,000 freestyle (10:25.42).
In the 100 backstroke, Diner took first (56.27) with Jass just behind her (56.61). Sophomore Taylor Judas won the 200 backstroke (2:05.2) after junior Maggie Adler, leading the pack, stopped swimming at the 100-yard mark.
Diner, alongside freshman Hailey Vlcek, Jass and freshman Bella Wojtowicz, took first in the 400 freestyle relay (3:25.25).
Junior Martina Cibulkova won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.31. Wilhelm took gold in the 100 butterfly (56:02), and in the 100 freestyle, Paduano finished first (51:58). Freshman Audrey Cavaliere finished first in the 50 freestyle (24.04).
The meet ended with an echoing cheer from the younger swimmers: “Thank you, seniors!”
Up next
The Illini next travel to Minneapolis to compete in the Big Ten Championships starting on Feb. 18.
