Illinois vs Iowa State
- Full Results
- Hosted by Illinois
- Saturday, January 14th
- 25 yards
- Final Score: Illinois 186, Iowa State 114
After falling in a tough tri-meet matchup against Notre Dame and Iowa on Thursday and Friday, the Illinois Fighting Illini returned home to face the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday on a tough turnaround. The Fighting Illini responded well, upending the Cyclones by a score of 186-114.
They won 13 of 16 races, including three victories from junior Samantha Stratford in the 200 fly, 200 breast and 200 IM. Seniors Gabbie Stecker (200 free, 500 free) and Audrey Rodawig (50 free, 100 free) also collected two wins apiece.
Collecting wins for the Cyclones were Harper Emswiler and Kasey Roberts, who won the 100 back and 100 breast respectively. Their other win came from diver Julia Dickinson, amassing a score of 294.38 on the 1-meter event.
Press Releases
Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois swimming and diving team defeated Iowa State on Saturday, 186-114. With the win, the Fighting Illini improve to 7-4 on the season.
“We knew this meet had the potential to go either way,” said head coach Sue Novitsky. “Especially traveling on the road and coming back on the same weekend, but it’s something we have talked about. This was a great opportunity for us to practice being tired, but still being okay, stepping up and racing. It was great to see the team come together and relish another opportunity to compete.”
The Orange and Blue placed first in 13 of the 16 races on the day, starting off strong by winning the first three, and closing out the meet by winning 10 of the last 11. Junior Samantha Stratford won three individual events (200 fly, 200 breast and 200 IM), while seniors Gabbie Stecker (200 free, 500 free) and Audrey Rodawig (50 free, 100 free) won two each.
Sophomore diver Madeline Kuhn claimed the victory in the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 267.98. The Fighting Illini freshmen had a stellar day as well, with Monica Guyettwinning the 1000 free, Jamie Kolar winning the 200 back and Megan Vuong winning the 100 fly.
Illinois relay teams in the 200 medley and 400 free also placed first in their respective events. The team of Stecker, Stratford, Rodawig and Vuong took the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:46.46, and the 400 free relay team of Rodawig, Vuong, Guyett and Schilling clocked in a time of 3:30.84 for the win in the event.
“It was a full-team contribution today,” Novitsky said. “That’s what I love to see, and that is what we have been missing the last couple weeks. It’s been good to see people throughout the lineup stepping up and finishing.”
Illinois will host its last home meet of the season, Slpash Bash and Senior Day, against Nebraska, Jan. 21, in the ARC at 11 a.m. CT.
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Illinois – The Iowa State swimming and diving team fell on the road to the University of Illinois Saturday afternoon, 186-114, at ARC Pool on the Illini’s campus. The result drops the Cyclones’ dual meet record for the season to 1-3-1 (0-0-1 Big 12) and improves the Illini’s record to 7-4 overall.
Iowa State
The meet marked the first of four dual meets for Iowa State that will take place in four consecutive weekends to round out the regular season.
Iowa State’s first wins of the day came in events four and five, as Harper Emswiler claimed the top spot in the 100 backstroke (58.07) and Kasey Roberts took first in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.44).
Despite posting strong times on the heels of Winter Training and hanging tight in many more races throughout the day, event wins were hard to come by with a handful of close finishes.
In the 50 freestyle, Laura Miksch
claimed second place with a time of 24.49, followed by Maddie Rastall at 24.60. Rastall later claimed the two-spot in the 100 freestyle by touching in 53.03 seconds.
Roberts went on to take a second place finish in the 200 breaststroke with a finish of 2:21.53, while her fellow junior Mary Kate Luddy swam to a time of 58.35 in the 100 butterfly.
In the diving well, Julie Dickinson owned the top spot on the one-meter board with a score of 294.38, beating out the second-place finisher by nearly 40 points. The team captain nearly had a sweep of the boards by taking first on three-meter as well, but a score correction bumped Dickinson into second place with 264.52 points and less than 3.5 points from first.
Freshman Katherine Mueller earned the highest finish of her young career, earning 237.82 points on the one-meter board to take third.
Iowa State makes its long-awaited return to the friendly confines of Beyer Pool Jan. 21 for an 11 a.m. Big 12 showdown with West Virginia. It will be the Cyclones’ first home meet since the season-opener in October. Admission to the meet will be free.