by Eric Willuweit
Chicago, Ill. – The Illinois Tech Swimming and Diving team returned home and notched another home victory, defeating Carroll University in overall scoring 193-163 Saturday afternoon at Ekco Pool.
The men’s team defeated the Pioneers men’s squad 103-42, while the Pioneers women’s team defeated the Scarlet Hawks women’s team 121-90.
On the men’s side, the Scarlet Hawks took first place in all contested races. Don Rose had a season-best time of 49.99 in the 100-yard freestyle, about one second off his personal best. Evan Standish led all men’s divers with a score of 202.60.
The women’s team took home victories in the women’s 200-yard medley relay, the 1000-yard freestyle (Kristen Hampton), the 50-yard freestyle (Anna Slominski), 200-yard IM (Nethmi Bopearatchy – personal best time of 2:29.20), 200-yard backstroke (Hampton), and the 200-yard breaststroke (Slominski).
Slominski, who qualified for the NCAAs in the 200-yard breaststroke in the 2019-2020 season, unfortunately could not compete in the event as the championship was cancelled due to the pandemic. Slominski’s time of 2:28.75 in this meet was on par with times posted at the same point in the season of the 2019-2020 campaign.
Coaching Staff Comments
Interim Head Swimming and Diving Coach Billy Bafia: “Excited for all the progress our divers are making. The training they have been doing since their last meet against the University of Chicago really shined today against Carroll. The comradery of the group is helping them bounce back after the pandemic” said Bafia
Bafia continued: “Happy with how the team swam today. Everyone approached their races well and focused on the little details we have been tuning these last two weeks. Our drop taper for mid-season will help them power through their races and allow us as coaches to understand what we need to focus on for the latter half of the season as we look at our conference championship.”
Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach Mac Robertson: “Was an awesome last tune-up before our meet at the University of Chicago. Lots of great racing across the team to help figure out our best lineup going into our mid-season meet,” said Robertson.
Volunteer Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach Seth Wissenbach: “Really excited about the energy from the team. Seems like everyone is prepared to go into mid-season for some fast racing,” said Wissenbach.
Dar Novak, Assistant Coach – Diving, felt that they “are making a lot of progress with the (diving) team.”