2011-12 Year in Review

Swimming & Diving

7-12 (2-5 Big Ten) // 10th Place Big Ten Championships

The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team started the season strong, winning four of its first six dual meets before finishing the year 7-12 overall. Individually, the squad induced 25 changes to the all-time fastest individuals list and eight changes to the top dives list.

After losing their first two meets of the season to Northwestern and Kansas, the Orange and Blue rallied to win four straight dual meets. Three of those four wins were by more than 50 points to earn victories over Illinois-Chicago, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Illinois State. The other win was a tough-fought event at Michigan State, where the Illini pulled out the victory, 154.5-145.5.

Illinois also had success in the Northwestern Invitational, where it finished second of eight after a thrilling battle for second place with Iowa State. It came down to the 400 free relay, where the Fighting Illini finished four hundredths of a second ahead of Iowa State to take second place by one point.

Unfortunately, Illinois could not maintain its momentum and lost five of its next six dual meets. Four of the five loses came to Big Ten foes, including then-No. 15 Minnesota, No. 19 Wisconsin, Purdue and Iowa.

At the Big Ten Championships, the Illini placed 10th, though four school records were broken at the event. The 400 free relay team of Courtney Pope, Kristen Manias, Jessica Holz and Brittany McGowan shattered the school record with a time of 3:21.83. The other school record breakers included Alison Meng, April McKee, McGowan and Pope in the 200 medley relay (1:41.94), Erin Rodriguez in the 200 fly (2:01.72) and Alison Meng in the 50 back (25.88).

Sophomore Holz led Illinois with seven first-place finishes and posted the team’s best time in the 200 back (2:00.14) to rank fifth on the all-time fastest individuals list. Junior Kathleen Knight, sophomore Erica Lynn and freshman Meng each had two individual first-place finishes on the season.

Meng had a breakout campaign and led the Illini in the 50 (25.88) and 100 (55.71) back, in which she currently ranks first and third, respectively, on the all-time fastest individuals list. Meng also ranks second in the 50 fly (25.64) and sixth in the 100 fly (56.02) on the all-time fastest individuals list. The Lodi, Wis., native took home the team’s Newcomer of the Year title for her effort.

Sophomore Pope moved up on the all-time fastest individuals list in the 100 (5th; 50.75) and 200 (7th; 1:49.78) free, while senior McGowan led the team in the 100 free (3rd; 50.64) and 50 fly (1st; 25.49) to rank on the top-10 list as well.

Senior Torrey Loper showed her consistency by leading Illinois in the 500 (4:57.03), 1000 (10:21.04) and 1650 (16:57.62) free for the second consecutive season. Loper currently has spots on the all-time fastest individuals list in the 1000 (10th; 10:14.27) and 1650 (9th; 16:57.62) free.

On the boards, senior Britni Fisher and juniors Tessa Adams, Keri Eberhardt and Darragh McDermott qualified for the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships. This marked Fisher’s fourth and Adams’ third zone diving appearances. Fisher led the Illini divers with four first-place finishes on the season while breaking school records in the one-meter dive (298.27) and three-meter dive (319.65).

In the classroom, the Illini swimmers and divers continued the program’s tradition of excellence, earning the Fighting Illini Outstanding Team GPA Award with the highest grade point average (3.48) of any varsity team at Illinois. Individually, senior McKee and junior Erin Lamb each earned the highest GPAs among all Illini female athletes in their respective classes.