NORMAL, Ill. – Members of the Illinois State swimming and diving team competed on the opening day of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) National Invitational and the NCAA Diving Zone Championships on Thursday.
Jensen Keck, Kierston Farley-Sepe, Julie Kolar and Mary Katherine Tillotson represented the Redbirds in several individual events, as well as a pair of relays on the first day of the national invite on the campus of Cleveland State. Farley-Sepe set the standard in the preliminary round of the 50-yard butterfly, breaking the ISU school record mark of 25.09 with a time of 25.02, before finishing 19th overall (25.05) to earn points for the Redbirds.
Keck entered the final round of the 50-yard breaststroke as the 12 seed, after clocking in a time of 29.19 in the prelims. The junior battled in the finals, finishing 16th overall, touching the wall in 29.39 seconds. Kolar represented ISU in two individual events – the 200-yard IM and 50-yard backstroke – clocking in times of 2:08.10 ad 27.63, respectively. In her lone individual event of the opening day, Tillotson finished 64th overall in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.14.
The quartet grabbed a top-25 finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay posting a time of 1:35.76, before finishing the night with another top-25 performance in the 400-yard medley relay, as the group clocked in a time of 3:50.58.
"I'm very proud with how the group competed today," head swimming coach Scott Cameron shared. "It is no easy task to restore and get up for a meet like this, and they have done a fantastic job of racing both in prelims and in finals. I'm excited for tomorrow and I am expecting some more great swims in the next few days."
The group will compete the next two days, both individually and as a relay, to wrap up competition at the national invite.
On the boards, standout Caroline Lecoeur opened the NCAA Diving Zones Championship with a top-40 finish in a highly-competitive field of divers in the 3-meter diving event. The sophomore turned in a score of 230.35, and will wrap up the NCAA championships tomorrow in the 1-meter diving event on Purdue's campus.
"Today was a solid start to the zone meet and I am proud of the way Caroline performed today," said head diving coach Phil Hoffmann. "She improved from last year and is really looking forward to a great 1-meter event tomorrow. It is her best event and she is well-prepared to battle some of the very best divers in the country."
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