JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's and women's swimming teams ended their 2019-20 home schedule on a high note on Saturday afternoon in Coultas Natatorium. Following eight event victories for each team, the Lady Blues earned a 116-65 win in the women's meet and the Blueboys notched a 94-34 triumph in the men's meet.
Of the day's 20 events, IC claimed wins in all but four. The domination started with the 200 Medley Relays. On the women's side,
Lindsay Bruce,
Hannah Marks,
Kate Edelstein and
Marjori Russo defeated their Principia counterparts by more than 13 seconds with a time of 1:59.91. The men's team of Marty Ambre, Colin Williams, Owen Sheridan and Steven Lorett touched in 1:48.79 for a three-second win.
It was Senior Day for the trio of Ambre, Bruce and Marks and Marks set a new mark in the women's 400 IM with a time of 4:54.51, snipping nearly six seconds off her previous school record. Though she rarely competes in freestyle events, she also turned in the second-fastest time in program history in the 100 Free with a winning time of 57.07 seconds.
Other individual winners for the Lady Blues were
Jacquelin Castellon in the 1650 Freestyle (20:52.77), Russo in the 200 Freestyle (2:07.82),
Caitlyn Ford in the 50 Freestyle (30.49) and
Cassie Reeve in the 500 Freestyle (6:03.22).
Though the Blueboys didn't have any changes to the program record book on Saturday, they were still unchallenged from start to finish. The team had six individual winners, starting with Myles Genrich in the 1650 Freestyle (18:25.36) and 500 Freestyle (5:18.28). Later on came wins from Ambre in the 200 Freestyle (1:50.25) and 400 IM (5:01.48), Lorett in the 100 Butterfly (57.17) and Williams in the 100 Breaststroke (1:08.35).
The final race of the day was the 200 Freestyle Relay. The "A" team for the Lady Blues of Russo, Edelstein, Bruce and Marks closed out in 1:49.69, while the "B" team finished as runners-up with Ford, Castellon,
Caitlyn Gallagher and Reeve clocking a 2:03.13. In the men's event, the Blueboys had a time of 1:36.94 from Sheridan, Lorett, Genrich and Jake Howey.
More updates will be available later today when results come in from the diving competition held at Lincoln College.
Illinois College takes a break from competition next weekend, getting ready for the Midwest Conference Championships. The three-day MWC Championships will begin on Feb. 14 at Grinnell College. Prelims will start at 10 a.m. on Feb. 14 and 15 with finals beginning at 5:30 p.m. each night. On Feb. 16, prelims will begin at 9 a.m. with finals slated for 4 p.m.
