Vanderbilt vs. Illinois Dual Meet
- November 4th, 2023
- ARC Pool, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
- Results on MeetMobil: “2023 Vanderbilt v. Illinois”
- Full Meet Results (PDF)
- Final Score
- Illinois – 156
- Vanderbilt – 106
In a battle that saw a total of eight facility records fall at the University of Illinois’ home pool, the Illini came out on top, besting the Commodores by fifty points. The meet didn’t feature diving, as Vanderbilt doesn’t sponsor a diving program.
The Illini opened the meet by taking down the ARC pool record in the 200 medley relay. The team of Sydney Stoll, Kylee Sessions, Logan Kuehne, and Lily Olson combined to finish in 1:42.21 to reset the record.
Two members of that relay would later be a part of other record setting performances. Stoll was the second swimmer to reset a facility record, doing so in the 200 free. Stoll became the first swimmer to ever finish below 1:48.99 at the ARC Pool, touching at 1:48.99 to win by over three seconds. Stoll’s performance was also the second fastest of her college career, trailing only her time from last year’s Big-10 Championships.
She also added a second place finish later in the day in the 200 back, falling to Vanderbilt’s Grace Ciaramitaro (1:59.39).
Olson was the second member of the relay to pick up a second pool record on the day, swimming the second leg of the Illini’s record-setting 200 free relay. Olson was joined by Lauren Bludgen, Margret Adler, and Molly Yetter, to win the relay in 1:33.00.
The final record setting performances came from Sara Jass, with the sophomore setting records in both the 200 breast and 400 IM. Jess opened her day by running away with the 200 breast, finishing over eight seconds ahead of the field in a time of 2:13.12. That time also make’s her the second fastest performer in school history. Her performance in the 400 IM was equally dominant, with the sophomore leading the field by over ten seconds in a time of 4:15.46.
Not only were both of Jass’s performances under the pool record, but both were significantly faster than her performances from last year’s Big-10 Championships. At that meet, she took seventeenth in the 200 breast (2:14.40) and nineteenth in the 400 IM (4:17.42).
Jass’s lone loss of the day came in the 100 breast, where Vanderbilt’s Faith Knelson came out on top. Not only did Knelson finish with the top time in the event, but she also took down the pool record, touching at 1:01.74. Jass was second in 1:03.32.
Vanderbilt also had a multiple-event record setter, with Kailia Utley sweeping the butterfly events.
Utley opened her day by taking down the ARC record in the 200 fly, finishing three and a half seconds ahead of Alexis Wendel of Illinois. Utley touched at 2:00.36, while Wendel was second in 2:03.77.
Utley also easily lead the field in the in the 100 fly on her way to her second pool record of the day. Utley claimed her second title of the day with a time of 54.81.
Outside of the pool records, Illinois’ Adelaide Reaser claimed the top spot in the 1000 free. The sophomore, who transferred from Truman State prior to this season, held off teammate Paloma Canos Cervera to win in 10:10.14. That time also makes Reaser the program’s tenth fastest performer in school history. Cervera would later pick up a win of her own, taking the top spot in the 500 free in 4:57.74.
Illinois also took the top spot in the 100 back, with Suvana Baskar taking the top spot in 55.31.
Laurel Bludgen claimed the top spot for the Illini in the 50 free, touching in 23.57. That time was slightly faster than her performance on the school’s 200 free relay, which she led off in 23.83. She also added a third place finish in the 100 free (52.22), with Vanderbilt’s Abby Francis winning that event in 51.72.
