The Illinois swimming team dominated its meet against Illinois State on Friday, sweeping all 14 events.
“Claiming a victory in every race was our goal,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “We wanted to make sure that we stayed focused for this meet and swim a complete meet from start to finish.”
The Illini, who won 206-94, were led by freshman Amelia Schilling, who won her first two collegiate races. Schilling claimed first in both the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10 minutes, 20.22 seconds as well as the 500 free at 5:03.46. She was one of five Illini to capture two first-place finishes.
“It was exciting to compete and win,” Schilling said. “We definitely wanted to win this meet.”
After losing a close meet against Oakland last Saturday, the Illini focused on details at practice this past week, which was the prime factor as to why the team lost such a close meet. The team saw the benefits of its hard work at practice as they dominated the meet.
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The Illini also saw two first-place finishes post new top times for the season as Jessica Holz (2:03.01) won the 200 backstroke and Sarah Sykstus (4:31.65) won the 400 IM. Holz also took first in the 100 back (58.01), while Sykstus won the 400 IM (4:31.65).
Erica Lynn also won two races as she placed first in both the 100 breaststroke (1:06.66) and the 200 breast (2:22.34). Courtney Pope claimed her fifth event victory of the season as she won the 100 free (52.07). She was also was part of the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay, both of which took first place.
The meet was anticipated with much excitement, as it was the first home meet of the season. The crowd helped cheer on the team to a dominant performance, which was achieved with a little more intensity in preparation. The team lost to the Redbirds last year, which ended a 12-year winning streak the Illini held against Illinois State.
“We felt so much better,” said junior Alison Meng, who won both the 100 fly and 50 free. “We were there completely for the whole meet. It was so different from last year and it definitely felt a whole lot better.”
The Illini will use this success as momentum heading into their next meet, which will be against Kansas on Saturday at the ARC pool.
Michal can be reached at [email protected] and @bennythebull94
