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Junior Marissa Clapp led the Illini with four victories this weekend.
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Nov. 3, 2007
Columbia, Mo. - The Illinois swimming and diving team beat Drury, 98-50, in the morning, but fell to No. 20 Missouri, 124-35, in the evening Saturday. The Orange and Blue finished the Missouri Dual Meet Challenge with two victories and two defeats.
Working on little rest the Illini swam strong throughout the first meet. Junior Marissa Clapp won the 100 IM in 59.33 and the 200 breast in 2:20.32. In addition, she swam the third leg of the 800 free relay that took first place.
Sophomores CeCe Marizu, Amy Forsberg, and Kyla Bachtell recorded single event victories for the Orange and Blue. Marizu won the 200 back with a time of 2:04.66, while Forsberg won the 500 free in 5:01.68 and Bachtell won the one-meter board with a score of 443.15.
"The team was not phased by the quick turnaround with the way that we practice, so they were focused and ready to go this morning," head Coach Sue Novitsky explained. "The event line-up worked in our favor and helped us have our most complete meet of the season."
The Illini dominated the reigning NCAA Division II national champions winning seven of the eight events. The relays kept up their strong performance winning the 200 medley and 800 free relays, the only relays of the meet. In the 500 free and 100 IM, the Illini swept Drury finishing with the top four finishers in each event.
"It is extremely difficult to sweep two events in a meet," Novitsky said. "We were just really fast this morning and the team had some great performances."
In the nightcap, the Orange and Blue could not get anything started against the host school, Missouri. Clapp was the lone event winner for the Illini with a lifetime best and NCAA B-Cut time of 4:23.19 in the 400 IM.
"The event format included a majority of sprints, an area we are still working to improve in practice," Novitsky said. "We were too sloppy with turns and touches. Once we get those details fixed, we will save the amount of time needed to win the races we lost tonight."
The Illini will be back in action Nov. 10, when they head to Normal, Ill., to take on Illinois State in a dual meet.
