Whitewater, Wis. - The wait for Illinois Tech swimming and diving to start the season finally came to an end on Saturday, when the Scarlet Hawks traveled to Whitewater, Wisconsin to take on UW-Whitewater in dual meet action. When the last swimmer came out of the water, the Hawks came away with a split on the afternoon, with the men's team winning 143-128, while the women's team fell 177-72.

The Scarlet Hawks had several top performances across the board in the meet, with the men's team claiming seven first-place finishes, while the women's team captured four top finishes.

Head Coach Kate Chronic was pleased with the results for the team's first meet of the season.

"Our athletes did an outstanding job racing," said Chronic. "We had many fast swims across the board, both on the men's and women's teams. 
For the first meet of the season, this was an excellent opportunity for us to see where we are right now, what worked and didn't work, and to begin to make adjustments as we head into our big Quad meet at UChicago in two weeks. I'm very excited to see what we can do as the season progresses."

Overall, the men's team came away with seven first-place finishes, seven second-place finishes, and five third-place finishes. On the women's side, the team had four first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and five third-place finishes.

First-year swimmer Zeng Wye Liew of the men's team was the team's top performer on the day, taking first-place in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard IM. First-year Elishka Janout of the women's team also won her first collegiate event in the 100-yard freestyle, and took third place in the 50-yard freestyle.

Top Performers

Men's Team

• Zeng Wye Liew: 1st place - 200-yard IM (2:00.98); 1st place - 100-yard butterfly (52.29)
• Don Rose: 1st place - 200-yard freestyle (1:49.66); 2nd place - 100-yard freestyle (48.58)
• Aidan Chance: 1st place - 100-yard backstroke (54.39)
• Eli Riegler: 1st place - 500-yard freestyle (5:03.21); 2nd place - 200-yard freestyle (1:50.63)
• Giorgio Turchetti: 1st place - 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.62); 2nd place - 50-yard freestyle (22.26)
• Tristan Minarik: 2nd place - 1000-yard freestyle (10:45.93)
• Nicholas Raden: 2nd place - 200-yard IM (2:06.72); 2nd place - 100-yard backstroke (57.90)
• Hugo Besin: 3rd place - 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.14)
• Colin Schulz: 2nd place 1-meter diving (171.90); 2nd place - 3-meter diving (168.38)
• 1st place - 400-yard Medley Relay - Chance, Liew, Rose, Turchetti (3:35.22)
• 2nd place - 200-yard Freestyle Relay - Chance, Ean Arbogast, Minarik, Rieger (1:31.67)

Women's Team

• Claire van Biljon - 1st place - 50-yard freestyle (25.12); 2nd place - 100-yard butterfly (1:01.85)
• Kristen Hampton - 1st place - 200-yard IM (2:22.33); 2nd place - 500-yard freestyle (5:42.23)
• Elishka Janout - 1st place - 100-yard freestyle (56.75); 3rd place - 50-yard freestyle (26.01)
• Kayla Matsumoto - 1st place - 100-yard backstroke (1:04.44)
• Taryn Oser - 2nd place - 100-yard breaststroke (1:13.57); 3rd place - 200-yard IM (2:27.72)
• Grace Kolody - 3rd place - 200-yard freestyle (2:12.15); 3rd place - 500-yard freestyle (5:56.83)
• Anna Malik - 3rd place - 1000-yard freestyle (12:29.06)
• 3rd place - 200-yard Freestyle Relay - Hampton, Kolody, Nethmi Bopearatchy, Bianca Perez (1:53.01)

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will be idle this week, and will next hit the water in competition on Saturday, 10/25 when they compete in the UChicago double-dual with UChicago and Wheaton College at 1:00 p.m.