Chambana Sun

The Illinois swim and dive team is preparing for the Hawkeye Invite, a midseason tournament taking place in Iowa City, Iowa, from November 21 to 23. The event will be held at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals commencing at 5 p.m. Central Time each day. In addition to Illinois, teams from Arkansas, Colorado State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, and San Diego State will also participate.

Last year, the Illini secured third place at their midseason tournament (Boilermaker Invite), achieving eight top-10 program marks and setting four school records.

Freshman Chloe Diner has emerged as a key performer for the Fighting Illini. She set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.59 and recorded the second-fastest time in the program's history for the 200 IM at 1:59.18 during their last meet on November 1. Freshman Kayla Duran also made her mark by swimming the second-fastest 100 breaststroke in school history with a time of 1:01.82.

Both Diner and Duran contributed to strong performances in the 200 medley relay on separate teams that achieved top-10 program marks. Seniors Suvana Baskar and Logan Kuehne teamed up with freshmen Isabella Wilhelm and Diner to achieve the fifth-fastest time of 1:40.25. Meanwhile, seniors Sydney Stoll and Laurel Bludgen joined forces with freshmen Sophia Paduano and Duran to clock an eighth-fastest time of 1:40.67.

Additionally, freshman Kennedy Rainwater made her debut appearance in the school record book on November 1 by swimming the program's tenth-fastest time in the 1000 freestyle at 10:09.15.