Indiana State vs Illinois (women’s dual)
- Thursday, October 11th
- Vigo Schools Aquatic Center, Terre Haute, IN
- Short Course Yards
- Results
TEAM SCORES
- Indiana State – 148
- Illinois – 135
Indiana State hosted Illinois in a women’s dual on Thursday, October 11th, coming away with the team victory. This marked the first time in program history that Indiana State has beaten a Big Ten opponent. The Illini would have won the meet, if not for their A 400 free relay getting DQ’d for an early take-off. They would have won the event comfortably if not for the DQ, which would have shifted the scores to Illinois – 144, Indiana State – 139.
Illinois’ Megan Vuong (senior), downed the Indiana State pool record in the 100 fly, posting a 55.98. Vuong shattered the previous record, which stood at 56.72 from 2016. She was out in 26.62, and back in 29.36, marking fairly tight splitting for a 100 fly. Vuong also went on to take the 50 fly with a 25.59.
Indiana State’s Alex Malmborg (junior) broke her own pool record in the 50 free. Malmborg got her hand on the wall first, touching in 23.88, just .03 seconds ahead of Illinois’ Kristin Anderson (junior). Malmborg’s previous pool record stood at 23.90.
Illinois’ Monica Guyett (junior) took the 200 free and 500 free. She came out on top in a tight race with Indiana State’s Cierra Campbell (junior). Guyett held the lead in the first half of the race, but but Campbell took back a .02 second lead at the 150 mark. Guyett got her hand on the wall in 1:54.45 to Campbell’s 1:54.81. Guyett then won the 500 free, again in a tight race, this time with teammate Ilse Martinez (sophomore). Guyett took the lead in the middle of the race and held it, fighting off a charging Martinez, who split 29.37 to Guyett’s 30.20 on the final 50. Guyett finished in 5:05.81, while Martinez came in at 5:06.18.
PRESS RELEASE – INDIANA STATE:
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State Swimming and Diving team made history on Thursday evening as they took down Big 10 foe Illinois for the first time in program history, 148-135
Surging Sycamores
Once again, freshman diver Elle Christie dominated the dives for the Sycamores. In the one-meter dive, Christie claimed her first collegiate victory while also breaking her own school-record with a score of 258.82. Prior to the one-meter dive, Christie broke her own record in the three-meter dive with a score of 283.27, which also qualifies her for the NCAA Zone C Diving Regional.
On the swimming side of things, Alex Malmborg once again broke her own pool-record in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking a time of 23.88 for a first place finish. The junior was also a member of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay that touched the wall with a time of 3:33.52.
Senior Martina Marks came away with two wins in the pool, taking the victories in the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley with times of 53.02 and 2:06.90, respectively.
Also winning two events for the Sycamores was sophomore Megan Schade. Schade battled for the win in the 100-yard breaststroke, overtaking her teammate Anna Maria Nasiou by just .22 with a time of 1:06.09. She then won the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 20.54, .03 in front of Nasiou.
Kendall Hansen and Vivian Kritikou were both triumphant in their respective events, taking the 100-yard backstroke and 1000-yard freestyle. Hansen finished the backstroke with a time of 57.19, while Kritikou walked away with a season-best time of 10:28.30 in the freestyle.
In addition to Christie, fellow freshmen divers Keara Shelton and Jolie Rusznak also had personal-best days in the dives for ISU. Shelton posted scores of 211.05 and 240.30 in the one and three-meter dives, respectively. Rusznak earned scores of 183.08 and 190.50 in the same events.
Coach Christensen’s Corner
“It was a good evening for us, we’ve been working pretty hard and to see the ladies step up and race really well against a Big 10 team was exciting,” Head Coach Josh Christensen said. “I’m very proud of how they raced tonight. It’s early season, it only means so much, but I think it’s a good step to build some confidence and we’ve got a meet tomorrow night that we’ve got to get ready for. It was good early season racing, good to see them compete well, and a good stepping stone for our program.”
Coach Chen’s Remarks
“We faced a few strong divers today, but our divers came out with fantastic performances,” Diving Coach Fengting Chensaid. “Some of them broke their personal and school-records again and had better consistency on their dives. I’m so proud of them for doing such a great job, especially Elle for qualifying for the NCAA Diving Zone meet, which is a big success for our young program. Tomorrow will be a tough meet for all of us, but I’m looking forward to seeing how they will do.”
Top ISU Performers In Each Event
100-Yard Backstroke: First Place, Kendall Hansen, 57.19
100-Yard Breaststroke: First Place, Megan Schade, 1:06.09
100-Yard Butterfly: Second Place, Martina Marks, 57.70
1000-Yard Freestyle: First Place, Vivian Kritikou, 10:28.30
200-Yard Freestyle: Second Place, Cierra Campbell, 1:54.81
50-Yard Freestyle: First Place, Alex Malmborg, 23.88
200-Yard IM: First Place, Martina Marks, 2:06.90
One-Meter Diving: First Place, Elle Christie, 258.82
50-Yard Butterfly: Second Place, Joelle Borchers, 26.23
100-Yard Freestyle: First Place, Martina Marks, 53.02
50-Yard Backstroke: Second Place, Kendall Hansen, 27.20
500-Yard Freestyle: Third Place, Cierra Campbell, 5:10.16
Three-Meter Diving: Second Place, Elle Christie, 283.27
50-Yard Breaststroke: First Place, Megan Schade, 30.54
400-Yard Freestyle Relay: First Place, Joelle Borchers, Alex Malmborg, Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Cierra Campbell, 3:33.52
PRESS RELEASE – ILLINOIS:
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Despite a pool-record time of :55.98 from senior Megan Vuong in the 100 butterfly, as well as five other event victories, the Fighting Illini swimming and diving team came up short to Indiana State, 148-135, Thursday night at the Vigo Schools Aquatic Center. Illinois has a quick turnaround, as the team will head back home to host Michigan State on Friday at the ARC Pool. Meet competition begins at 4 p.m.
“We had some good races throughout the meet,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “Megan Vuong had a great day coming back from injury. She stepped up and raced with conviction. Indiana State competed well all the way through the meet and touched us out in numerous spots. Coming back tomorrow, we need to clean up our details and be tough all the way to the wall. We had our opportunities not just to win events, but to move up in the order of finish and we need everyone to execute for us to keep getting better as a team.”
The Orange and Blue got a strong performance from senior Monica Guyett, as the St. Charles, Ill. native touched the wall first in the 200 freestyle (1:54.45) and 500 freestyle (5:05.81). In addition to the pool record, Vuong finished with the top time in the 50 butterfly, posting a time of :25.59.
The youthful Illini impressed in their first collegiate experience, as freshman Kaylee Heimes came away with her first-career race victory in the 50 backstroke, finishing with a time of :27.05. Heimes also earned a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke with a time of :57.40. Freshman Sarah Cano also made a big contribution to the Illini, earning 10 points for the Orange and Blue. Cano finished second in the 100 backstroke (:57.37) and third in both the 50 backstroke (:27.76) and 200 individual medley (2:10.83).
On the Boards
After one of the best seasons in Illini diving history a year ago, senior Ling Kuhn got off to a strong start to the 2018-19 campaign, posting the top score in 3-meter diving (286.65). The total qualifies Kuhn for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. The senior also finished second in 1-meter competition with a score of 252.30.
Freshmen divers Elizabeth Rumsey and Taylor Shegos competed for the Illini for the first time on Thursday. Rumsey posted a 3-meter score of 236.85 and a 1-meter total of 218.03, while Shegos finished with scores of 234.82 and 251.93, respectively.
