Feb. 18, 2009

Ann Arbor, Mich. - The Illinois swimming and diving is set to compete in the 2009 Big Ten Championships held Wednesday, Feb. 18 through Saturday, Feb. 21 at Michigan's Canaham Natatorium.

The Fighting Illini will face tough competition this weekend as six Big Ten teams are nationally-ranked. According to the CSCAA Coaches Poll released Feb. 12, the current rankings are: No. 10 Minnesota, No. 13 Indiana, No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 15 Penn State, No. 23 Northwestern and No. 25 Michigan.

"The level of competition will be outstanding," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "But we can't worry about other teams, we just have to focus on us and step up. A couple of teams are way out there, but there's a group of teams where the competition's going to be close."

The Illini concluded their regular season almost three weeks ago when they finished fourth at the Big Ten Quad Duals. The Orange and Blue finished the season 5-4 in dual-meets and placed third at the Miami Invitational and fourth at the Indiana Invite.

After an impressive regular season, senior Marissa Clapp will help lead the charge for the Illini this weekend. Clapp has recorded 13 first-place finishes so far this season and looks to increase that number in Ann Arbor. In addition she has broken two ARC pool records throughout the season in the 200 (2:04.45) and 400 IM (4:21.28). In the Illini's last competition at the Big Ten Quad Duals, Clapp swam to a season-best time of 2:17.59 in the 200 breast.

Another leader for the Orange and Blue this weekend will be junior CeCe Marizu. Marizu had nine-first place finishes for the Illini this season. At Illinois State this past fall she set a pool record in the 100 back (58.07).

"It's going to be a combination of individual and team efforts this weekend," Novitsky said. "Individual results lead to team results. If you have some good individual results, the team picks up momentum and people get excited to race. Each swimmer just has to go into Big Tens eager to swim their best and contribute towards our team goals."

A full recap of the each day's events will be available on fightingillini.com at the conclusion of competition. Television coverage of the 2009 Big Ten Championships will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.

Schedule of Events:

Wednesday, Feb. 18:

1. 200-yard Medley Relay

2. 800-yard Freestyle Relay

Thursday, Feb. 19:

Preliminaries: 11 a.m.

1. 500-yard Freestyle

2. 200-yard Individual Medley

3. 50-yard Freestyle

Approx. 1 pm:

6. One-Meter Diving (Preliminaries and Consolation Finals)

Finals: 6:30 p.m.

1. 200-yard Freestyle Relay

2. 500-yard Freestyle

3. 200-yard Individual Medley

4. 50-yard Freestyle

5. One-Meter Diving

Friday, Feb. 20:

Preliminaries: 11 a.m.

1. 400-yard Individual Medley

2. 100-yard Butterfly

3. 200-yard Freestyle

4. 100-yard Breaststroke

5. 100-yard Backstroke

Approx. 1 pm:

6. Three-Meter Diving (Preliminaries and Consolation Finals)

Finals: 6:30 p.m.

1. 400-yard Medley Relay

2. 400-yard Individual Medley

3. 100-yard Butterfly

4. 200-yard Freestyle

5. 100-yard Breaststroke

6. 100-yard Backstroke

Saturday, Feb. 21:

Preliminaries: 11 a.m.

1. 200-yard Backstroke

2. 100-yard Freestyle

3. 200-yard Breaststroke

4. 200-yard Butterfly

Approx. 1 pm:

5. Platform Diving (Preliminaries and Consolation Finals)

(approx. 4:15; all but last heat)

6. 1,650-yard Freestyle

Finals: 6:30 p.m.

1. 1,650-yard Freestyle (Last heat of timed finals)

2. 200-yard Backstroke

3. 100-yard Freestyle

4. 200-yard Breaststroke

5. 200-yard Butterfly

6. Platform Diving

7. 400-yard Freestyle Relay