Chambana Sun

The Illinois swim and dive team completed the first day of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday, February 21, in West Lafayette, Indiana. The 200 medley relay team, consisting of junior Suvana Baskar, freshman Kylee Sessions, junior Logan Kuehne, and senior Lily Olson, placed seventh with a new school record time of 1:38.63. This marks their highest finish in the event since 2006 when they also placed seventh. It is also the first time Illinois has made the podium for a swimming event since 2016.

"A great night of swimming and diving for our program," said head coach Jeana Kempe. "We learned so much from last year and put it into practice tonight. Two school records to start the championships is great. Our freshmen divers got their first experience in the Big Ten tonight and they fought every step. I'm proud of where this program is headed."

Junior Sydney Stoll led off the 800 freestyle relay and broke the program record for the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.53. The relay team, including Stoll, sophomore Sara Jass, senior Laurel Bludgen, and freshman Martina Cibulkova, finished 11th with the program's fourth-fastest time of 7:18.17.

The divers participated in an exhibition team diving event for its second year; however, no official scores were released as it is still under consideration for future integration into the championships.

In terms of team scores after day one, Indiana leads with 118 points followed by Ohio State at 116 and Michigan at 112. Illinois holds ninth place with a total score of 78 points.

The Illini aquatics team will continue competing on day two of the Big Ten Championships tomorrow with preliminaries starting at 9 a.m., followed by finals at 4 p.m. Central Time.