Illinois State vs UNI (W)

• Saturday, January 15, 2022
• Normal, Ill.
• Results

Courtesy: Illinois State Athletics

NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State swimming & diving team sent their four seniors off with a win, topping the UNI Panthers, 193-160, at the final home meet of the season on Saturday morning.

Beginning with the 1-meter dive, the Redbirds won the first four events of day two, picking up right where they left on yesterday.

Freshman diver Eva Reyes completed the weekend sweep of the diving competition, picking up her sixth victory of the 2021-22 campaign to start the day off. She totaled a score of 263.85 in the 1-meter dive in the win, followed by teammate Kamryn Blake in third with a near personal best of 261.08.

Joining Reyes with wins on day two were the 200-yard medley relay team and Diana Walker, Madyson Morse and Olivia Gonder in individual events.

The 200-yard medley relay team that featured Kenzie Weber, Morse, Haley Rivera and Emma Feltzer kicked the swimming events off on a high note with a victory, combining for a time of 1:48.41.

Walker and Morse each picked up another individual victory on the weekend after the duo each recorded wins on day one. In the 500-yard freestyle, Walker beat the second-place swimmer by nearly four seconds with a time of 5:10.83.

Collecting her fifth victory of the weekend between three relays and two individual events, Morse clocked in at a time of 2:26.74 in the 200-yard breaststroke to give ISU its fourth win of the day.

In both the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke, the ‘Birds finished with two in the top-three as freshmen Lauren Hervey (500 free) and Sydney Hoff (200 breaststroke) each placed third in their respective events.

Rounding out the Redbird wins was Olivia Gonder in the 200-yard IM, besting the second-place finisher by almost four seconds with a time of 2:08.58.

“After yesterday’s session we talked to the team about taking advantage of every opportunity to compete,” head coach Caitlin Hamilton said. “We are all proud of how everyone stepped up to contribute to a total team win. We are seeing this team progress in real time and are all excited to see what they can do at the end of the year.”

The Redbirds’ victory over UNI marks Illinois State’s second win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent at Horton Pool this season, previously beating Evansville on October 23, 155-144.

UP NEXT

The Redbirds will take a week off from competition before their next meet on Saturday, January 29 at Indiana State. Start times for the meet in Terre Haute will be announced on goredbirds.com.

Courtesy: UNI Athletics

UNI swim and dive falls short to Illinois State Redbirds

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• UNI VS. ILLINOIS STATE RESULTS

NORMAL, Ill. – The University of Northern Iowa swim and dive team fell to the Illinois State Redbirds, 193-160, for the two-day dual meet at the Horton Pool.

Amber Finke, Faith Larsen, and Abby McCorkle all secured first-place finishes on the final day of the dual meet along with the 400 freestyle relay team.

Finke raced the 200 backstroke in 2:02.52, nearly five seconds faster than the rest of the swimmers. Payton Hall finished third behind Finke with a race of 2:09.96. Larsen secured a first-place finish with a time of 53.12 in the 100 freestyle while Verastegui found herself in third place again with Finke following in fourth.

McCorkle flew to a first-place position in the 100 butterfly in 58.60 seconds and teammate Scout Bergwall finished in third.

Taylor Hogan took second place in both boards this weekend scoring 264.45 on the 3-meter board and 261.45 on the 1-meter board.

The 500 freestyle had Abbie Bangs in second place (5:14.50), Olivia Chambers in fourth place (5:20.02), and Sarah Walpole in fifth place (5:21.57). Freshman Meghan Pallett finished second in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:27.30. In the 200 IM, sophomore Lily Ernst swam to second in a 2:12.46.

The Panthers return to the pool Jan. 28-29 for the Coyote Invitational held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The competition will start at 6 p.m. Jan. 28, and resume 10 a.m. Jan. 29 for preliminaries. Finals will begin at 4 p.m. Jan. 29. The Coyote Invite will be the final regular-season meet before the MVC Tournament in February.