ATHENS, Ohio — The Illinois State swimming and diving team wrapped up its two-day meet against Ohio University, recording four lifetime bests during Friday's action in a 293-57 loss.
"Overall, it was a very solid two days of racing for the Redbirds," said head coach Ryan Evans. "We were able to repeat last night's results with nearly all of our performances being season or lifetime bests. The structure of the meet, with an evening session and a morning session, is a great dress rehearsal for the Hawkeye Invite next month. There are some things we can do better and improve on, so this was a very positive learning experience."
On the diving boards, Selena Corona placed third in the 3-meter event with 252.83 points, recording a lifetime best. Emma Thompson finished fifth with 240.00 points.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Hailey Fris, Ava Ostendorf, Freya Hingston and Molly Allison finished fourth in 1:47.31. Illinois State's second relay team of Elle Dameworth, Julia Bartula, Martyna Dobek and Shelby Gourley placed fifth in 1:49.96.
Hope Westphal led the Redbirds in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing fifth in 5:09.19. Bartula followed in sixth with a time of 5:16.41.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Alex Davis placed fifth in 24.21 seconds, while Hingston finished sixth in 24.65 seconds, a lifetime best.
Martyna Dobek led Illinois State in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing fourth in 56.70 seconds. Fris placed sixth in 58.07 seconds, followed by Bailey Gott in seventh at 58.78 seconds.
Ostendorf earned a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:05.73. Gourley finished sixth in 1:09.64.
Hingston added a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a lifetime best mark of 57.51 seconds. Dobek finished sixth in 1:00.90.
In the 400-yard individual medley, Bartula finished third in 4:35.03, while Westphal placed fourth in 4:38.01.
The Redbirds closed the meet with a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Allison, Davis, Fris and Gott combined for a time of 3:32.04. Illinois State's second relay team of Hingston, Amelia Murphy, Dameworth and Westphal finished fifth in 3:34.64.
The Redbirds will now have a couple of weeks away from competition to focus on improvements before returning to the pool.
"My goal coming into these three weeks of meets was to get better each week," Evans said. "We definitely did that, and now we have a couple weeks without competing where we can dial things in."
UP NEXT
Illinois State is back in action on Nov. 7, hosting Marquette on Senior Day at Horton Pool.
