The Illinois swimming & diving team hosted Nebraska at the ARC Pool on Saturday for its annual Splash Bash promotion. In front of the largest crowd at the ARC this season, the Illini defeated the Huskers, 171-129.
“We were a lot sharper this week,” said head coach Sue Novitsky. “We worked a lot on our details over the course of practice this week. We are getting closer to Big Tens so the pieces should start to come together a little bit more. I was especially happy the way they rebounded emotionally after such a big weekend last weekend. They were able to regroup, get themselves up, get ready to go and compete hard today.”
The day began with an Illinois win, as the 200 medley relay team of Alison Meng, Samantha Stratford, Lori Lynn and Megan Marchuk clocked 1:44.14. That time was just .14 away from the ARC Pool record. Marchuk came back a couple events later and added a win in the 200 free, clocking a time of 1:53.13. Amelia Schilling and Sascha Meyers finished second and third, respectively.
In her first individual race of the day, Meng set a new pool record, completing the 100 back in a time of 55.42. Later, she broke the pool record in the 100 fly, finishing in 55.81.
The Orange and Blue added five more wins throughout the meet en route to the win. Isabella Schamber won the 100 breast in 1:06.76, while Stratford took the 200 fly in 2:04.70. Stratford also won the 200 breast (2:20.10) and the 200 IM (2:05.17). Gabbie Stecker produced the final Illinois victory of the day, winning the 500 free in 4:49.25.
“We still have some things we want to work on,” explained Novitsky. “I saw a lot of improvement today, but there is always something we can do to continue to take that step to get faster each week.”
The Illini will be back in action at the ARC on Saturday, Jan. 31 as they host Michigan State. On that day, the Orange and Blue will hold a Senior Day ceremony to recognize seniors Hailey Booth, Kayla Dlugopolski, Emily Fung, Sabrinne Gibson, Megan Marchuk, Callan McDermott, Alison Meng and Erika Murphy for their contributions to the program over their careers. The meet is scheduled to begin at noon.
The Nebraska swimming and diving team was defeated by Illinois Saturday afternoon in its final regular season Big Ten dual-meet of 2014-15. Illinois downed the Huskers 171-129, despite multiple victories from Taryn Collura and Anna Filipcic.
Collura captured two victories for the Huskers. Collura raced to a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle posting a time of 23.69. Collura's second victory came in the 100-yard freestyle swimming to a first-place time of 51.89.
Nebraska's second multiple event winner, Filipcic, captured her victories in the diving well. Filipcic earned her first victory in the one-meter dive (316.87) and her second victory in the three-meter dive (325.28).
Nebraska as a unit had a strong day in the diving well. Nicole Schwery earned two runner-up finishes for the Huskers. Schwery posted a score of 288.67 in the one-meter dive and a score of 286.50 in the three-meter event. Nebraska swept the top-three spots in the three-meter dive, with Francesca Giganti earning a third-place finish posting a score of 273.45.
Katt Sickle also had a strong day for the Huskers. Sickle captured a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle racing to a time of 10:22.71. Sickle added a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:01.13) and a third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.10) for the Huskers.
Erin Oeltjen captured another victory for the Huskers in the 200-yard backstroke. Oeltjen swam to a first-place time of 2:04.23.
Nebraska had a strong showing in the 100-yard backstroke with Jacqueline Juffer and Cassie Brassard capturing the second- and third-place spots respectively. Juffer earned second with a time of 56.78, while Brassard came in third with a 57.51 time.
Jordan Ehly was strong for the Huskers in the breaststroke events, earning two runner-up finishes. Ehly captured second-place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.68, while her second runner-up finish came in the 200-yard breaststroke posting a time of 2:22.76.
Alex Bilunas and Bria Deveaux also were strong contributors for the Huskers against Illinois. Bilunas earned a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.15. Deveaux captured a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (52.26) and a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (57.28).
In the relay events, the Huskers raced to a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Bilunas, Oeltjen, Deveaux and Collura finished in a time of 1:35.57. The Huskers also secured a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Juffer, Ehly, Deveaux and Collura posted a time of 1:45.39
?Nebraska will return home for their regular season finale Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31, to take on Washington State. The two-day event will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday and continue at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Huskers will then begin postseason competition competing at the Big Ten Championships Feb. 18-21, in Columbus, Ohio. Check back in to Huskers.com for any and all updates regarding the Nebraska swimming and diving team.
