University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Illinois State
UNI swim & dive drops road dual to Illinois State
1/20/2024 5:30:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Panthers grab seven event wins in final dual of the season. UNI heads to Sioux Falls and Omaha in two weeks.
NORMAL, Ill. — The UNI swimming and diving team rounded out its final dual of the 2023-24 season on Saturday afternoon, wrapping up a two-day competition in a 198-155 loss to the Illinois State Redbirds at Horton Pool.
Northern Iowa finishes the dual portion of the season with a 10-3 record, its third straight season with ten or more dual victories, including a program-record 12 dual wins last year.
Friday's competition kicked off with the 400-yard medley relay where reigning MVC Swimmer of the Week Amber Finke, Sydney Aird, Scout Bergwall and Faith Larsen clocked a 3:52.01 to finish in second place overall. Olivia Chambers took home the first individual event win of the dual in the 400-yard individual medley (4:30.73), while Morgan Meyer placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.11.
Larsen once again showed off her abilities as a sprinter with a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking a 24.07. Freshman Nikki Walters meanwhile took third-place in the 200-yard butterfly with a final time of 2:11.88.
Finke took home the gold in the 100-yard backstroke for a second straight meet after an impressive mark of 56.31 seconds, beating out Illinois State's Chloe Tyler by over a full second margin. Chambers grabbed her second individual win of the meet in the 1,000-yard freestyle, posting a time of 10:29.51. Abby Lear and Clare Christsensen joined forces with Larsen and Meyer to close the opening night of the meet in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:36.05.
Saturday morning's action began with a second-place finish in the following two events, with Chambers swimming a 5:09.00 time in the 500-yard freestyle and Aird posting a 2:25.16 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Finke grabbed her second win of the meet in the 200-yard backstroke (2:01.34) and also finished second in the 200-yard individual medley (2:07.22), while Larsen recorded a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (52.23). Hannah Nedder also took second overall in the 100-yard butterfly (58.16).
UNI closed the meet with a narrow victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as Meyer, Lear and Larsen joined up with Waren Graeve for a winning time of 3:32.09.
In the diving well, Erica Peters led the Panthers in the three-meter competition on Friday night in third-place with a score of 256.50, with Avery Hogan taking fourth (241.35) and Hannah Taylor in fifth (232.95). Trista Thompson led the way for Northern Iowa in Saturday's one-meter diving action, earning second-place with a score of 256.28, with Peters following in fifth with a 239.48. Abby Hutchins would earn fifth place on the one-meter boards (225.30).
UP NEXT
The Panthers return to the pool two weeks from now as swimmers head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Coyote Invite, while divers head to eastern Nebraska for the Omaha Diving Invitational.
Players Mentioned
