McLean County Times

NORMAL, Ill.-- The Illinois State Swim & Dive team commenced their season by hosting Missouri Valley Conference front-runner Indiana State. The Redbirds secured one swimming title and two diving titles from Eva Reyes, although they ultimately fell to Indiana State at Horton Pool. Chloe Tyler stood out in the swimming competition by claiming the 100-yard backstroke title with a time of 57.88.

Head Coach Riley Hilbrandt expressed satisfaction with the team's preparation against a strong opponent like Indiana State. "The first meet allowed myself, my athletes and the coaching staff to have a better insight into what we need to work on moving forward. It was exciting to see our team get up and race after hard weeks of training," Hilbrandt stated.

Hilbrandt added, "We took away some positives from this meet, we also have a lot of things to improve on. I told our team before the meet, we are focusing on the end goal of championships in February and this meet was a great first step into being that much better come conference."

Highlights included Eva Reyes securing two championships with scores of 270.68 in the 1M and 236.85 in the 3M events for a total of 18 points. Chloe Tyler won the 100-yard backstroke clocking in at 57.88 seconds. Giulia Basco achieved second place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.06 seconds, while Delaney Boulden finished third in the same event at 59.09 seconds.

Ella Turken placed third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24:34 seconds, Emma Feltzer posted a third-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle at 52.71 seconds, Sydney Hoff placed fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke timing at 2:30.34 minutes, and Cassidy Carey secured second place in the 200-yard backstroke finishing at 2:06.02 minutes.

Looking ahead, Illinois State will host an invitational against Ohio University on October 18-19 before embarking on three consecutive road meets against Southern Illinois/Illinois-Champaign (November 1), Purdue (November 22-23), and participating in the US Open held in Greensboro N.C., from December 4-7.

For updates on Illinois State swimming & diving, visit GoRedbirds.com or follow them on social media platforms such as X (RedbirdSwimDive), Facebook (Illinois State Swim & Dive), and Instagram (@redbirdwswimdive).

GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App provide information about tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia content, merchandise photos, and more.