Chambana Sun

The Illinois swim and dive team is preparing for its first Big Ten road duals of the season. The team will face the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday, January 17, at 11 a.m. CT in Iowa City, followed by a meet against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday, January 18, at the same time in Lincoln.

Illinois comes into these competitions with a record of 5-1 overall and 0-1 in Big Ten play. They recently competed against Purdue, setting five new ARC Pool records. Logan Kuehne broke the 50 freestyle record with a time of 23.15 seconds. Sydney Stoll set new records in both the 100 freestyle (49.98) and the 200 freestyle (1:47.96). Sara Jass now holds the record for the 200 IM at 1:59.77. Additionally, the team of Sophia Paduano, Kayla Duran, Logan Kuehne, and Isabella Wilhelm set a new mark in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:40.58.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have a current season record of 3-2 overall and are even at 1-1 in Big Ten matchups. They have been strong at home with a perfect record so far this season but were defeated by Miami on January 7 with a score of 199-95. In their last meeting with Illinois on January 12, 2024, Iowa emerged victorious with a score of 166.5 to Illinois's 133.5.

Nebraska holds an overall record of 5-2 but has yet to win in two Big Ten meets this season. Their last competition was against Omaha on December 11, where they won decisively by a score of 169-73. The Cornhuskers have faced one common opponent with Illinois this season; both teams secured victories over Kansas—Nebraska winning by a margin of 182-117 and Illinois by a margin of 191-109.

The upcoming matches will test Illinois as they aim to improve their conference standing.