Season-best times for the full roster weren’t enough to lift Illinois swimming and diving from tying Michigan State for 11th place at the bottom of the Big Ten Championships this weekend.

Another consecutive year of finishing at the bottom ensured that no active Illini swimmer knew what it was like to be in the upper half of the Big Ten, but spirits weren’t dampened by the loss.

On top of breaking four school records and clocking in 30 changes to the seasonal and all-time record books, the Illini fought to rise in rankings down to the 400 free relay, where they managed to tie the Spartans at 56 team points.

“The four of us just got out of the pool, the four of us in the relay, and talked about it,” junior Courtney Pope said. “We were like, ‘We did this last year and we can do it again.’ It’s not the easiest thing to always come from behind, but it makes things exciting and we’re really proud of each other.”

The relay team consisting of Pope, sophomore Alison Meng, junior Jessica Holz and sophomore Megan Marchuk touched in at 3 minutes, 22.01 second, the third-fastest time in school history and a season-best.

Pope and Marchuk were also part of the record-breaking 800 free relay at 7:20.87, while it was Meng and Marchuk who helped clock in a record 400 medley relay at 3:43.73.

“Those three, (Marchuk, Meng and Pope) swam on the full complement of relays,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “They each swam four relays and three individual events, and they kept coming back and stepping up and performing.”

The last two records were taken down outside the traditional manner. While the records broken — 50 and 100 back— were individual records, Meng claimed them by leading off the 200 and 400 medley relays and clocking in her back splits at 25.57 and 55.11, respectively.

When it comes to splits, the leadoff swimmer is the only one with an opportunity to record individual splits. This is because leading swimmers have to wait for the starter’s cue before they can leave the blocks and begin the ticking of the clock, therefore yielding an accurate split time.

But there is no avoiding the poor finish of the team.

“That’s where we’ve been before, and it doesn’t really bother us,” Pope said. “We know what conference we’re in and how fast it is. … But we never thought, ‘Oh, we’re in trouble. Here’s where we’re stuck.’”

Novitsky said one of the team’s biggest weaknesses is its lack of a “true sprinter” in freestyle, which she hopes to find in fall recruits Gabrielle Stecker and Amelia Schilling.

“The senior class of 2012, we graduated a lot of freestyle, so we lost a lot of our top-end talent in those events,” Novitsky said. “So, with the freshmen coming in 2013, they’re very strong freestylers, and I think they’re going to help us top to bottom.”

Novitsky said she doesn’t have plans of taking individual swimmers to the Last Chance Meet at Purdue next weekend because she was pleased with the good times from this weekend.

Success on the boards this weekend will give senior divers Darragh McDermott and Keri Eberhardt and sophomore Erika Murphy one last shot at improving on the season as each qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships starting March 14.

“It’s weird feeling that it’s all over, especially for the seniors,” McDermott said. “It doesn’t feel like we’re done completely yet (with zones), but everything we do as a team is over, so it’s weird.”

Illinois will have a short break in the spring before beginning its training for next season, but Pope said she can’t wait to get back in the water and start practicing again.

“I don’t want the year to fly by and stop swimming, but I can’t wait to get back to Big Tens next year,” Pope said. “But for right now, I’m just going to enjoy the little break I have and enjoy having dry hair for a few days and not getting in the pool all the time.”

J.J. can be reached at [email protected] and @TheWilson9287.