After a week full of rest and tapering, Illinois is bringing their top weapons to make an impression in this year’s Northwestern Invitational.
Last year, the Illini finished second out of eight teams in the three-day invitational, falling only to the unyielding Wildcats.
After a week full of rest and tapering, Illinois is bringing its top weapons to make an impression in this year’s Northwestern Invitational.
Last year, the Illini finished second out of eight teams in the three-day invitational in Evanston, Ill., falling only to the unyielding Wildcats.
Throughout the entire meet, Northwestern never relinquished its lead and finished with a near-200-point margin. Sitting at 1-2 and having already been defeated in a head-to-head matchup with the Wildcats, the Illini have their work cut out for them if they want to seize the win.
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“Obviously, we’re trying to go in and win,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “We’re backing off (the swimmers) a little bit (in practice). Their legs are pretty tired from the last few weeks, which we definitely saw last Friday, so I want to see them a little bit fresh and see how they react to that.”
Novitsky applied pressure to her underclass squad last week in the meet against Illinois State, but this week she said she is looking for adversity to challenge the entire team. With three days dedicated to swimming, she said this will provide the swimmers with a good opportunity to not only rely on fast swims, but self-management from session to session.
“Most of them have swum these kinds of meets before, and a lot of them try to make it a little different because it’s college,” Novitsky said. “(We just have) to remind them that they know how to do this.”
Freshman Lori Lynn said she is looking forward to being rested, feeling that she does much better even when she is a little tapered. While Lynn shares a common goal of wanting to drop time and reach finals in their events, sophomore Alison Meng has a goal in mind with a little more foresight.
“My goal for the team is to have a lot more girls qualify for the national meet, which is the week following Thanksgiving break,” Meng said. “I truly think that a lot more girls can get the cuts because there are only eight of us right now that are going.”
J.J. can be reached at [email protected].
