Illinois State vs Evansville (W)
- Saturday, October 23, 2021
- Normal, Ill.
- Final Results (PDF)
Courtesy: Illinois State Athletics
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State swimming & diving team opened the 2021-22 season strong, topping Evansville, 155-144, on Saturday afternoon at the Horton Pool.
“The team did a great job competing in their first real races since last April’s MVC Championships,” said Head Coach Caitlin Hamilton. “Evansville had a nice string of individual wins through today and our team battled together to earn this overall win. Today was a great starting point and we’re looking forward to a lot of fast racing next week.”
In the pool the Redbirds were led by junior Makenna Licking, who earned a pair of wins in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Licking, a native of Cross Plains, Wisconsin, clocked in at 10:34.64 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 5:12.00 in the 500-yard freestyle, picking up two of ISU’s three individual event wins in the pool today.
Sophomore Olivia Gonder swam to victory for the Redbirds in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:57.22 to get the ‘Birds lone win in the sprint events.
On the boards, freshman Eva Reyes swept the competition, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events in her collegiate debut for the ‘Birds. The San Diego, California native, posted a score of 285 in the 1-meter competition and 267.98 in the 3-meter event, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Redbirds in the 3-meter.
Closing out the afternoon was Illinois State’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Olivia Gonder, Emma Feltzer, Diana Walker and Raegen Follis who won with a combined time of 3:34.34.
While Evansville claimed more individual victories on the day, it would be the Redbirds who earned the team victory, outscoring the Purple Aces, 155-144 to get the win.
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Courtesy: Evansville Athletics
NORMAL, Ill.-The Illinois State Redbirds held off a hard-charging University of Evansville women’s swimming and diving team on Saturday at Horton Pool in Normal, Illinois, as ISU was able to hold on for a 155-144 victory.
“I am really proud of the way that we competed today,” said UE swimming and diving head coach Stuart Wilson. “The ladies really showed a lot of grit to the very end.”
The Redbirds, predicted to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference in the preseason poll, jumped out to an early meet lead on the diving boards, behind an NCAA provisional standard of 285.00 by freshman Eva Reyes on the one-meter board. UE senior Fae-Siri Keighley finished second behind Reyes, and just 10 points shy of the provisional mark, as she posted a season-best mark of 255.00 in the one-meter competition.
In the pool, Evansville finished first in 10 of the 14 individual and team events to rally back. Freshman Sveva Brugnoli (Rome, Italy) and junior Maya Cunningham (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) went one-two in both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly events (100 times: 57.27 and 59.25 | 200 times: 2:08.76 and 2:08.82). Brugnoli’s 100 fly time ranked her as the eighth-fastest Ace in school history in the event.
Senior Jessie Steele (Houston, Texas/Klein) swept the sprint freestyle events, placing first in both the 50 free (25.18) and 100 free (53.65). Freshman Mari Mueller (Aschaffenburg, Switzerland) also posted a double by winning the 200-yard breaststroke (2:25.89) and the 200 IM (2:09.69). Juniors Sarah Jahns (200-yard backstroke – 2:07.33) and Sage Moore (100-yard breaststroke – 1:06.94) and sophomore Iryna Tsesiul (100-yard backstroke – 59.41) also won individual events for UE.
“Both Jessie and Sveva really stood out today,” said Wilson. “They were dominating in their events.”
UE got within striking distance at the close of the meet, but ISU was able to hold off the Purple Aces by outscoring Evansville 20-16 over the final two events. UE finished just a second behind Illinois State in the all-important final event – the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay – that swung the victory into ISU’s favor.
“Winning 10 of 16 events was outstanding, but give Illinois State a lot of credit for pulling out that last relay,” said Wilson. “I still really liked the fight that our team showed today, and this is a good meet to build on going forward.”
Evansville will now have a week off before returning to the pool next the weekend of November 5 and 6 to host Arkansas-Little Rock and Saint Louis.
