WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Redbird freshman diver Eva Reyes continues to impress meet after meet, breaking an Illinois State school record in the platform dive (5) with a score of 209.15 on the final day of the three-day Purdue Invitational at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. In her first time competing in the platform dive this season, Reyes broke Caroline Lecoeur's 2019 record of 177.10 by 32.05.
In addition to Reyes' record-breaking performance, multiple Redbird swimmers achieved lifetime best times in the pool over the three-day meet.
"Overall, I'm proud of the team and how they responded in a very competitive mid-season meet," said head coach Caitlin Hamilton. "We had more lifetime best times than I can count and learned a lot about ourselves as a team. Right now, feels like we have something special brewing under the surface and I can't wait to see how the second half of the season plays out."
A day-by-day breakdown of the meet can be found below:
DAY 1
The opening day at the Purdue Invitational was highlighted by five lifetime best times in the 500-yard freestyle, led by sophomore Diana Walker, who clocked in at 5:01.25. Freshman Lauren Hervey and junior Makenna Licking finished within one place of each other with the duo each clocking personal-best times of 5:01.93 and 5:02.94, respectively. A pair of freshmen were the final two 'Birds to notch personal-best times in the 500-yard freestyle with both Ella Glaspie (5:04.68) and Lauren Wisdom (5:08.34) making improvements to their times in the event.
In the 200-yard IM, Olivia Gonder led a group of seven Redbirds who competed in the finals. The sophomore swam a personal-best time of 2:04.34, a near two-second improvement from her time in the prelims.
DAY 2
Junior Lauren Naeger swam three lifetime bests on the second day of the Purdue Invite, improving her 400-yard IM time by six seconds with her time of 4:29.24 in the prelims and following up with a career-best time of 56.85 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly prelims. Teammate Haley Rivera finished right behind Naeger with a personal-best time of 56.87 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly. In the evening finals session, Naeger shaved almost two more seconds off her career-best from the prelims with a 4:27.89 swam in the 400-yard IM finals.
DAY 3
On top of an exciting day on the boards for the Redbird divers, a group of three ISU swimmers all recorded lifetime-best times in the 1650-yard freestyle, led by Licking with a time of 17:14.08. Walker and Wisdom clocked in at 17:20.83 and 17:30.48, respectively with all three picking up their second lifetime-best time of the weekend.
The Redbirds had swimmers notch personal bests in the 200-yard events, one in the butterfly, one in the breaststroke and one in the backstroke. In the butterfly, Naeger continued her impressive weekend, swimming lifetime bests in both the prelims and the finals, ending with a time of 2:01.78. Junior Emily Keebler clocked a career-best of 2:24.26 in the breaststroke, while sophomore Cassidy Carey led four Redbirds in the backstroke finals, finishing with a lifetime-best time of 2:01.42.
The Illinois State swimming & diving team finished with 192 points to take sixth-place overall in the deep eight-team field, featuring Northwestern, Louisville, FIU, Purdue, Missouri State, McKendree and Indiana State.
UP NEXT
The Redbirds will take some time off for the holidays before returning to the pool in 2022 when they host Missouri Valley Conference rival, UNI, on January 14 and 15 at the Horton Pool. Official start times and a schedule of events will be posted to goredbirds.com closer to the meet.
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