The University of Illinois canceled its winter break trip to compete at the FIU Sprint Invite in Miami on January 3 and the FIU Relay meet on January 8, citing COVID-19 conditions in Florida.
Illinois, which placed 12th at last year’s Big Ten Championships, wrote that the decision to cancel was not related to COVID-19 issues within the team. After Illinois opted not to compete, the meets were canceled.
Miami-Dade County currently has the highest infection rates per 100,000 in the state of Florida and among the highest rates in the world of any locality. The area is currently averaging 525 cases per 100,000 residents over the last week.
Champaign County, where the University of Illinois is located, similarly has the highest infection rate in the state of Illinois, even with the University out of session for the winter. Champaign County is currently averaging 210 cases per 100,000 residents over the last week.
Currently, Illinois is still scheduled to compete in its home meet against Iowa on January 15. The Big Ten Championships are scheduled for February 16-19 at the University of Wisconsin’s new pool.
The team’s last meet was the House of Champions Invitational in November at IUPUI. The team won out of 9 women’s teams in attendance – a field that included mostly Division I mid-major programs like Ball State, UIC, and Milwaukee; as well as a top Division II program UIndy.
Illinois finished 12th out of 13 teams at last year’s Big Ten Championships, ahead of Rutgers, a program that had only a few swimmers remain in their program because of COVID-19. Their top scorer was junior Abigail Cabush, who was 16th in the 200 free at Big Tens in the spring. She currently ranks 17th in the conference in that event with a mid-season 1:47.71.
Cara Bognar also ranks 17th in the conference in the 400 IM.