Photo Courtesy from goredbirds.com
NORMAL, Ill.–The Illinois State Swim and Dive team notched two convincing victories this past weekend.
The Birds bounced back after a tough day of back-to-back meets against SIU, and Illinois, winning against both Maryville (245-37) and McKendree (188-108) in yet another day of back-to-back meets.
“Every time we get in the water there’s more improvements being made,” said junior swimmer Emily Keebler. “The atmosphere is just getting better too.”
Keebler was able to pick up two first place finishes in the 200 yard backstroke and 200 yard individual medley events. Her two first place finishes helped to make up a grand total of eleven first place finishes for the Birds in the meets.
“I think just as we’re getting more comfortable with each other and bringing the freshmen onto the team it’s improving more aspects than just our racing,” said Keebler.
The team brought along eight new freshmen swimmers and divers for the ‘21 season. One of those freshmen, Sydney Hoff, flashed during the meet. Hoff was able to clinch two first place finishes in the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke. Her 2:25.63 finish time in the 200 yard breaststroke marked her fastest finish in her collegiate career.
“It’s definitely nice to see the hard work starting to pay off,” said Keebler. “It definitely creates a better team atmosphere when people are doing well, and creates more momentum going into the next meets going into it.”
While the Birds are excited about these victories, they know that there is still more to look forward to as they’ll be featured in the Purdue Invite.
“It’ll be a lot of fun racing,” said Keebler. “It’s a fun meet to be at and our first time in our tech suits and not fully tapered but kind of rested for the meet, so it’s just exciting to see what we’ll do.”
The Birds will be on the road in West Lafayette for the meet on November 18th.