Illinois swimming and diving will be celebrating its seniors in its final home meet against Nebraska on Saturday morning, but the team is treating it like any other meet.

“It’s always an emotional day,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “But as soon as that national anthem is over, they have to become a stone-cold killer, get up on the block and get ready to go.”

Senior Sarah Coady agreed with Novitsky, saying the seniors will have to focus on the task at hand.

“Last year at the Big Tens, we beat (Nebraska) by one point, so it’s a pretty big rivalry between us,” Coady said. “It should come down to be pretty close.”

After the Illini went 1-1 last weekend, Novitsky spoke with the team about the lack of pool energy and what a difference acting like a team can have.

“They’re stronger as a team of ‘we’ than a team of ‘me,’ and a lot of them were acting like a team of ‘me,’” Novitsky said. “It was a little harder than they wanted it to be, but that’s competition and you’ve got to be ready to step up and go.”

Novitsky said the team is working to polish and sharpen detail work in the pool, adding that she is still looking to make those details automatic.

“It’s all about finishing our races and remembering that we’ve been practicing and training all year for these kind of meets so that we’re prepared for the events that we’re supposed to swim,” sophomore Callan McDermott said.

Despite the team’s 2-3 record (1-2 Big Ten), Novitsky said this meet isn’t just about winning. The Illini will be using this final head-to-head matchup for more than just salvaging their record.

“It’s our last time here,” senior Darragh McDermott said. “It’s really exciting, but we still have a couple more meets and a lot bigger meets this season to look forward to, so we’ve got to use this as practice to keep preparing.”