JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College swimming teams wrapped up the 2019 calendar year on Saturday by hosting the IC Winter Invitational. Both the Blueboys and the Lady Blues ended in second place at the event, outpacing Knox College, Lincoln College and North Central College. Millikin University was the winner on the men's and women's sides. The Blueboys ended the event with 134 points while the Lady Blues accumulated 112 points.
The day began with runner-up finishes from both IC squads in the 200 Medley Relay. The women's team of Hannah Baker, Hannah Marks, Kate Edelstein and Lindsay Bruce had a time of 2:00.23. The men's team of
Marty Ambre,
Colin Williams,
Steven Lorett and
Jake Howey touched in a time of 1:47.52.
As individual events began, Illinois College immediately had two big performances. Caitlyn Gallagher smashed the previous school record in the 1000 Freestyle with a time of 11:50.35.
Myles Genrich then turned in the second-fastest time in school history in the 1000 Freestyle with a time of 10:40.22.
The other school record on the day came from Marks as she took down her previous record in the 100 IM, finishing in 1:03.12. In that same event, Williams had the third-fastest time ever for the Blueboys with a time of 59.00.
Event victories for the Illinois College men also came from Ambre in the men's 200 Freestyle (1:51.79) and Williams in the 100 Backstroke (58.05).
For the Lady Blues, other event victories belonged to Marks in the 50 Breaststroke (31.68) and 100 Breaststroke (1:09.75).
In the day's final event, the Lady Blues finished in third in the 200 Freestyle Relay as Bruce, Edelstein, Baker and Marks swam a 1:55.13. The Blueboys were the runner-up in the event as Howey, Lorett,
Davide Sanna and Ambre finished in 1:35.91.
The season resumes for Illinois College early on in 2020 with a Winter Break training trip to Florida. The Blueboys and Lady Blues will face Indian River State College in a dual meet in Fort Myers on January 7 as part of the trip before returning to the Midwest.
