NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State swimming & diving team sent their four seniors off with a win, topping the UNI Panthers, 193-160, at the final home meet of the season on Saturday morning.
Beginning with the 1-meter dive, the Redbirds won the first four events of day two, picking up right where they left on yesterday.
Freshman diver Eva Reyes completed the weekend sweep of the diving competition, picking up her sixth victory of the 2021-22 campaign to start the day off. She totaled a score of 263.85 in the 1-meter dive in the win, followed by teammate Kamryn Blake in third with a near personal best of 261.08.
Joining Reyes with wins on day two were the 200-yard medley relay team and Diana Walker, Madyson Morse and Olivia Gonder in individual events.
The 200-yard medley relay team that featured Kenzie Weber, Morse, Haley Rivera and Emma Feltzer kicked the swimming events off on a high note with a victory, combining for a time of 1:48.41.
Walker and Morse each picked up another individual victory on the weekend after the duo each recorded wins on day one. In the 500-yard freestyle, Walker beat the second-place swimmer by nearly four seconds with a time of 5:10.83.
Collecting her fifth victory of the weekend between three relays and two individual events, Morse clocked in at a time of 2:26.74 in the 200-yard breaststroke to give ISU its fourth win of the day.
In both the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke, the 'Birds finished with two in the top-three as freshmen Lauren Hervey (500 free) and Sydney Hoff (200 breaststroke) each placed third in their respective events.
Rounding out the Redbird wins was Olivia Gonder in the 200-yard IM, besting the second-place finisher by almost four seconds with a time of 2:08.58.
"After yesterday's session we talked to the team about taking advantage of every opportunity to compete," head coach Caitlin Hamilton said. "We are all proud of how everyone stepped up to contribute to a total team win. We are seeing this team progress in real time and are all excited to see what they can do at the end of the year."
The Redbirds' victory over UNI marks Illinois State's second win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent at Horton Pool this season, previously beating Evansville on October 23, 155-144.
UP NEXT
The Redbirds will take a week off from competition before their next meet on Saturday, January 29 at Indiana State. Start times for the meet in Terre Haute will be announced on goredbirds.com.
For all latest on Illinois State swimming & diving, follow the Redbirds on Twitter and Instagram.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
