Mount Pleasant, Wis. - The Illinois Tech swimming and diving team completed a very successful Liberal Arts Conference Championships run this past weekend in Wisconsin, with the team breaking one meet record, three team records, and bringing home a team trophy, 36 individual medals and 7 team relay medals.

The men's team finished the four-day competition in second place, with 475 points. The women's team came in fourth place overall with 290 points.

"I'm so proud of our team," said Head Coach Kate Chronic. "They worked hard this year, doing exactly what we asked of them and more. They've learned how to manage their emotions to become more focused and intentional in their swims and that work paid off big time. The results from this past week were amazing. Time for a bit of well-deserved rest before we get back to the training. Awesome job, team!"

The top individual performer on the men's side was Bjarne van Oord. van Oord had two first-place finishes and five second-place finishes in the seven combined individual and relay events he competed in this past week at the Liberal Arts Conference Championships in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. This meant van Oord was on the medal stand for every event he competed in at this year's conference championships. van Oord took first-place in the men's 100 yard backstroke with a time of 49.66. He followed that up with another first-place finish in the 200 yard backstroke, setting a new meet record with a time of 1:49.19. van Oord now owns both Liberal Arts Championships meet records in the 100 yard and 200 yard backstroke events. In his other individual event, van Oord took second-place in the 200 yard IM event with a time of 1:53.49. In relay events, van Oord was on the second-place Illinois Tech men's A relay teams in the 800 freestyle (6:53.27), the 400 medley (3:22.35), the 200 medley (1:32.30) and the 400 freestyle (3:04.99).

The top individual performer on the women's side was Claire van Biljon. van Biljon had two first-place finishes, two second-place finishes, one third-place finish and one fourth-place finish in the six combined individual and relay events she competed in this past week at the Liberal Arts Conference Championships in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. In total, van Biljon made five appearances on the medal stand at this year's conference championships. van Biljon took first-place honors in the women's 50 yard freestyle with a time of 23.95. She also took first-place in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 52.28. In the four relay events she competed in with the Illinois Tech women's A relay team, she shared two second-place finishes - the 400 medley (4:02.79) and the 200 medley (1:49.57), one third-place finish in the 800 freestyle (8:19.75), and a fourth-place finish in the 400 freestyle (3:42.66).

In relays, the men's team broke three school records while taking second place in all four relay events. The A relay team broke school records in the 200 yard medley relay (1:32.30), the 400 yard medley relay (3:22.35) and the 800 yard freestyle relay (6:53.27). 

In total, the men's team had 2 first-place finishes, 8 second-place finishes and 6 third-place finishes between their individual and relay performances. They also earned 24 individual medals (top 6 in a finals event) and 4 team relay medals (top 3 among relay teams in an event).

On the women's side, the A relay team earned a second-place finish in the 400 yard medley relay (4:02.79), a second-place finish in the 200 yard medley relay (1:49.57), and a third-place finish in the 800 yard freestyle relay (8:19.75). In total, the women's team had 2 first first-place finishes, 4 second-place finishes and 4 third-place finishes. The team earned 12 individual medals and 3 team relay medals. 

Final meet results can be found HERE.