UIC received impressive individual debuts in their season-opening meet with Michigan State Friday at UIC Natatorium.  Sophomore Felix LaFortune, in his first year of eligibility, won both diving events.  Freshman Mitch Milosh had an individual win and a second place, and was part of a winning relay team.  Among the upperclassmen, Danny Sivak led the way with three second place finishes, and Luke Hutchinson won the 200 fly.

Michigan State's depth propelled them to a 176-124 win, but head coach Tim Loeffler was impressed with how his team reacted to their first live competition:


Individual Highlights

• Mitch Milosch won his first collegiate race, holding off a late Spartan charge to take the 100 back in :51.98.  Frank Ruppel was third, and Frank Errichiello took fourth.
• Milosch later took third in the 100 fly.  Ruppel was behind him again with another third place finish.
• Danny Sivak was the Flames' bright spot in the 100 breast with a second place time of :58.53.  Later in the meet, Sivak took another second place finish in the 200 breast.  His time (2:08.04) was a career best.
• Sivak led the 200 IM for the first three quarters of the race, but gave up ground in the freestyle leg and settled for his third second place finish of the meet.  Kyle Lewarchick took third.
• Behind Sivak in the 200 breast were Kyle Lewarchick (3^rd, 2:11.14) and Joe Perez (6^th, 2:12.90).
• Luke Hutchinson put more distance between himself and the field with each length and won the 200 fly going away, in 1:50.89.  Kyle Lewarchick took third in 1:54.40.
• The 50 free provided plenty of drama for an early season meet.  Ethan Lee took third (:21.66) with Connor Homans right behind him in fourth (:21.85).
• Michael Tegeler dominated the 200 back.  His first place time of 1:51.17 was four seconds faster than the next finisher.  Josh Dellorto and Connor Mitsch were fourth and fifth respectively.

Relay Highlights

• Connor Homans out-touched the Spartan's anchor swimmer in the 400 medley relay to give the Flames a first place finish by one-tenth of a second.  Michael Tegeler, Danny Sivak, and Mitch Milosch comprised the rest of the team.
• Frank Ruppel, Kyle Lewarchick, Eric Weng, and Peter Andreev combined to take third in the 400 medley.
• The Flames' A-200 free relay team (Connor Homans, Ethan Lee, Mitch Milosch, and Eric Weng) made up time on Michigan State's fast first leg but couldn't completely overcome the Spartans and finished second in 1:25.59.

Diving Highlights

• Felix LaFortune had a very impressive Flames debut, winning the 3-meter competition with a score of 309.10.  He outpaced the field by over 35 points.
• Ryan Murphy took third in the 3-meter, with Andrew Lewarchick coming in fifth.
• Later in the meet, LaFortune made it a sweep with a winning score of 290.65 on the 1-meter board.
• A stronger team effort had Lewarchick in second, and Murphy in third.  There were nearly 20 points separating the three Flames from the two Spartan divers.

Up Next

• The men will combine with the women's team for a coed quad meet Oct. 26.
• Hosted by Northwestern, the meet will also include Illinois and the University of Chicago.