NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State swimming and diving teams topped Davenport with a final score of 202-91. This meet also served as an opportunity for student-athlete Kierston Farley-Sepe to break the Horton Pool record in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 25.85, beating the pool record of 25.95.
"I'm very happy and pleased with my 50-fly result," said Farley-Sepe. "These past couple weeks have been hard; winter training is one of the hardest parts of the season. We've been working hard as a team, and turning in the time I did today gave me a boost of confidence going into the rest of the season. I'm looking forward to it for sure."
The Illinois State relay teams competed well with the 200-yard medley relay team consisting of Farley-Sepe, Jensen Keck, Morgan Clark, and Jessica Nichols. The Redbirds worked together to capture first place with a time of 1:47.53 in the event. The 200-yard freestyle relay team captured second place with Nichols, Liz Thull, Lexie Hardewig, and Janise Everest, clocking in a time of 1:42.58.
Redbirds Morgan Rosser and Savannah Rubocki took first and second place, respectively, in the 1000-yard freestyle, with times of 10:49.84 and 10:55.07, respectively.
Thull clocked a time of 1:58.39 in the 200-yard freestyle, taking first place in the event, while Maia Cain and Molly Hill swept the top two spots in the 50-yard backstroke. Cain took first place with a time of 28.34 and Hill finished second with a time of 28.56.
Farley-Sepe captured first place in the 50-yard freestyle (24.64), as Clark took second place in the same event with a time of 24.74.
Other notable performances were Julie Kolar taking first place in the 100-yard freestyle (54.72), Rubocki captured second place in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.97), and Katie Tillotson in the 500-yard freestyle (5:21.88).
Redbirds Thull and Rachel Rymer also competed in the 500-yard freestyle taking second and third place, respectively. Thull clocked a time of 5:28.91 and Rymer turned in a time of 5:50.36.
"It was great to see the team compete today," said head swimming coach Scott Cameron. "This was our first dual meet in over two months, so it was a great opportunity to get some races under our belts as we gear up for the home stretch of our season."
On the boards, Caroline Leceour took first place in both the 1-meter (300.52) and 3-meter (272.55) diving events with Emily Aument finishing closely behind her teammate in both events, scoring 261.37 in the 1-meter diving event and 229.12 in the 3-meter diving event.
"After weeks of intense training, I was happy with how we performed in meet mode," said head diving coach Phil Hoffmann. "It was a good opportunity for them to gauge where they are as we prep for the conference championships. We are in a good spot moving forward."
The Illinois State swimming and diving teams will be traveling to Iowa next weekend to compete in a pair of meets at Iowa State and UNI on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
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