Chambana Sun

The Illinois swim and dive team participated in the first day of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. The team's 200 medley relay squad made an impressive start by setting a new school record with a time of 1:37.96. The team members Suvana Baskar, Kayla Duran, Logan Kuehne, and Isabella Wilhelm finished ninth overall.

Sydney Stoll also delivered a remarkable performance as she led off the 800 freestyle relay. She broke her own school record for the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46.70. Alongside Sara Jass, Maggie Adler, and Chloe Diner, Stoll helped achieve the program's second-fastest time of 7:13.32 in their eleventh-place finish.

Laurel Bludgen swam the program's ninth-fastest time in the 50 freestyle during the time trials with a mark of 23.12 seconds.

At the end of day one, Illinois stands tenth overall with a total of 72 points.

The current standings are as follows:

1. Michigan leads with 128 points.

2. Indiana holds second place with 108 points.

3. Ohio State and USC are tied at third with 106 points each.

5. Wisconsin is fifth at 104 points.

6-7. Minnesota and Northwestern both have accumulated 92 points.

8-9-10. Nebraska has secured eighth place at 76 points while Purdue is ninth at 74 points followed by Illinois at tenth place with their score.

Other noteworthy achievements include:

- Sydney Stoll set a school record for the individual event of the day: her performance in the aforementioned race was noted as first among program records.

- The relay team's record-setting performance was similarly acknowledged within program ranks.

Personal bests were achieved by several team members including Laurel Bludgen (50 freestyle), Kalina Nikolaeva (100 backstroke), Sophia Paduano (100 butterfly), Jane Umhofer (100 freestyle), Marin McAndrew (100 freestyle), Sydney Stoll again in her standout event (200 freestyle), and Liv Dorshorst (200 freestyle).

The competition will continue tomorrow on February 20th with preliminaries beginning at nine o'clock in morning central time followed by finals scheduled for four o'clock afternoon central time.