The UIC women's swimming and diving team picked up two wins in a tri-meet Saturday, while the men's team split two decisions against Green Bay and Valparaiso.

The women defeated Valpo, 244-44, and took down their Horizon League rival Green Bay, 175-125.  The men also topped the Crusaders, 244-50, but fell in conference action, 185-115 to the Phoenix.

"Our women had a solid performance all around and we saw some great improvements from even last week," head coach Tim Loeffler said.  The women moved to 3-0 on the young season.

The team started the meet with a strong performance in the 200 medley relay, placing first with the team of Abby Kunze, Sophia Shalabi, Annette Lesnicki, and Lexie Joy.  Joy and Shalabi, along with Misha Neal and Brie Hines, were on the first place 400 free relay team.  The Flames also took third place with their B team in both races.

Brie Hines continued to swim well in the distance events.  She won the 1000 free in 10:27.21, 25 seconds ahead of the field.  She was a full six seconds ahead of second place with a winning time of 5:04.05 in the 500 free.  Hines also won the 400 IM in 4:34.67, with Jessica Amyette in second.

Lexie Joy led a dominant team performance in the 200 free.  She was the winner in 1:52.30, pacing four Flames in the top five.  Misha Neal took third, with Morgan Bosse and Ashlin Ruiz right behind in fourth and fifth.  Joy won the 100 free as well, with Neal following up in second.

Jessie Stangret was the winner in the 100 back, touching the wall in 58.42 seconds.  Abby Kunze was right behind her in second.  Kunze won the 200 back in 2:08.74.  Shalabi (1:05.85), Jessica Amyette, and Claudia Kirkpatrick swept the top three spots in the 100 breast.  Shalabi and Amyette also went 1-2 in the 200 breast.  Shalabi's winning time was 2:26.00 flat.

On the 1-meter board, Cydney Liebenberg was the Flames' top finisher with a score of 256.05, good for fourth place.  Rachel Criscione and Kallie Zuidema were right behind in fifth and sixth.  Liebenberg posted a 232.72 in the 3-meter event to take third.  Criscione placed fourth.
 
After swimming in an exhibition last weekend, the men's team faced its first outside competition in the tri-meet.  "Our men raced hard but we need to work on the small details," Loeffler said.  "With such a young team this year, we have a lot of teaching to do and I need to remember the big picture when we are at meets like this."

Hunter Crook and Luke Hutchinson were the top two finishers in the 1000 free.  Crook also won the 500 free with Nicholas-George Koto right behind in second.

Flames finished 2-3-4-5 in the 200 free, as Tanner Alms, Jacob Cunningham, Nathan Bosse, and Koto all finished within one second of each other.  Bosse was the Flames' top finisher in the 100 free, taking second in :46.94.  Cunningham was third.

Daniel Sivak and Michael Tegeler were second and third respectively in the 100 back, each staying within a half second of the winner from Green Bay.  Tegeler topped the Green Bay challenger in the 200 back with a win in 1:52.20.  Sivak was not far behind in third.

Max Pohl was out-touched in the 50 free, settling for second, just 0.04 seconds behind the winner, in 21.42.

Andrew Lewarchick posted a score of 272.92 and placed second in the 1-meter diving.  He also was second in the 3-meter event at 294.37.

The men finished strong with a win in the 400 free relay.  Bosse, Alms, Cunningham, and Pohl combined to record a time of 3:07.43.

The teams will have a weekend off before returning to action October 28 in a quad meet at Northwestern with Rutgers and Chicago.