McLean County Times

The Illinois Wesleyan University swim and dive teams concluded their participation in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swimming and Diving Championships. The women's team secured fourth place, while the men's team finished fifth.

On the final day, junior Natalie Porter from Danville, Illinois, emerged as the first individual champion for Illinois Wesleyan. She won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:40.66, significantly improving her previous time by 42.24 seconds. Senior Carter Dilger from Sellersburg, Indiana, achieved All-CCIW status in the 200-yard butterfly.

Porter's performance was notable as she became the first Titan since Meg Stanley to win back-to-back titles in the 1650-yard freestyle. Other strong performances came from senior Alexa Starkey and sophomores Julianna Boyle and Claire Paule, who placed fourth, fifth, and seventh respectively in the same event.

Dilger's last collegiate swim saw him improve his time by over seven seconds across preliminaries and finals in the 200-yard butterfly to finish second. Sophomore Sam Borre narrowly missed a podium finish in the 200-yard backstroke finals.

Freshman Tate Thomas represented IWU's men in the 1650-yard freestyle, placing fifth after cutting more than a minute off his previous best time.

The competition concluded with IWU's teams participating in the 400-yard freestyle relays. The women finished fourth with Starkey, Emily Marks, Julia Jozwiak, and Isabella Cano competing. The men's team placed sixth with Thomas, Colin McKibben, Ben Huk, and Jacob Nacional swimming.

Starkey and McKibben were honored with IWU's CCIW RESPECT Award. Over the week-long event, Porter, Dilger, Cano, and Kuschewski received All-CCIW honors.

This meet marked the end of both the season and collegiate careers for seniors Starkey, Marks, McKibben, and Dilger.