Oct. 24, 2002
COLUMBIA, Mo. -
The Tiger swimming and diving teams hit the road this weekend and travel to Champaign, Illinois to compete in the Fall Illini Classic on Saturday, October 26. The Tigers will face host Illinois, Michigan State and Southern Illinois in a four-team dual meet at the IMPE Pool at 10:00 a.m.
The women's team will try to extend their 12 dual meet win streak alive against some tough competition. Border rival Illinois returns an experienced squad that competed at the NCAA Championships last season (finishing 40th). The Illini return a number of top swimmers including breaststrokers Ilkay Dikmen, a 2000 Olympian for Turkey, and Trisha Lakatos, a Canadian National Championship qualifier.
The Michigan State women's team poses another difficult opponent out of the Big 10. The Spartans team also competed at the NCAA Championships (finishing 39th). The strength of the Spartan team are their backstroke events led by school record holder Kate Duncombe. The Spartan men's team returns an experienced group of swimmers and divers. The top returning Spartan is Joe Brennan, who swims the 100, 1000 and 1650 freestyle.
The Tigers also face long-time rival Southern Illinois. The Salukis compete in the Missouri Valley Conference and both their men's and women's teams have won numerous conference championships and are very talented. The women's top returnee is Brigitta Olson, the 2002 MVC 200 butterfly champion. The men's team boasts some talented divers including Zone D qualifiers Jake Sinclair and David Likar. Brent Menghini (freestyle and butterfly)is the top returning swimmer for the Salukis.
"This is a pretty big meet for us. Anytime you face Illinois and SIU you know that you are going to have to fight for points and you throw in Michigan State, who we have never swam against, you have the potential for a really competitive meet," said swimming and diving head coach Brian Hoffer. "All these schools have great athletes, I know that because we all pretty much recruit many of the same athletes. So I know the other coaches are going to have their kids ready, especially since recruiting season is here."
NOTES FROM THE DECK: This is the first time that the Tigers have ever faced the Spartans in a dual meet...The Michigan State men's team will compete in a dual meet against Indiana at Bloomington, Ind. on Friday...The Illini will host a dual meet against Illinois State, Friday at 6 p.m. at the IMPE Pool...Southern Illinois women's team is the only team besides the Tigers that has competed this year, they lost in a dual meet against Kansas on Sept. 27 119-80...The last time the Tiger women's team lost in a dual meet was January 26, 2001 against Nebraska 130-112 in Lincoln, Neb.
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