UIC opened the swimming and diving season at Northwestern's pool Saturday morning.  Against Big Ten competition, several newcomers got their first taste of collegiate swimming while the Flames' veterans posted benchmark times in their best events.

"A lot of our freshmen jumped right in and rose to the occasion against two major-conference opponents," Tim Loeffler said.  "This meet will give us something to work from in terms of our times and will help us prepare for our next meet, also against a Big Ten team, in a couple weeks."

The Wildcats outscored the Flames' men and women.  Illinois, who only has a women's team, competed too and defeated UIC's women in a triple-dual format.

Top Performances – Men

• Felix LaFortune placed second on both the 3-meter and 1-meter diving boards.
• Hunter Crook and Luke Hutchinson finished 3-4 in the 1000 free.
• Danny Sivak was second in the 100 back.  He was third in the 200 back.
• Ben Gabbey, Joe Perez, and Garrett Prybell swept places three through five in the 100 breast.  They were joined by Sivak in places 2-5 in the 200 IM.  The trio, along with Kyle Lewarchick, occupied third through sixth in the 200 breast.
• Kyle Lewarchick placed second in the 200 fly.  Hutchinson was close behind him in third.
• The Flames went 2-3-4-5 in the 100 fly with Jeff Wiedoff, Cameron Moran, Eric Weng, and Frank Errichiello finishing consecutively.

Relays – Men

• Sivak, Gabbey, Weng, and Wiedoff combined to take second in the 200 medley relay.
• Jacob Cunningham, Michael Tegeler, Josh Dellorto, and Lewarchick  took third in the 400 free relay.

Event Winners – Women

• Cydney Liebenberg was the winner in the 3-meter diving event.  She scored 263.55, over 24 points more than the second place diver.

Top Performances – Women

• Cydney Liebenberg was second on the 1-meter board.  Her score qualified her for the NCAA Zone competition.
• Christina Neri finished second in the 1000 free.
• Lilly Culp made her Flames debut by taking third in the 200 fly and fourth in the 100 fly.  She was fifth in the 200 IM.
• Lauren Johnson was fourth in the 50 free and in the 100 free.
• Victoria Thor turned in a third place finish in the 500 free in her first collegiate meet.

Relays – Women

• Anna Scovill, Poleena Kovaleske, Culp, and Johnson comprised the 200 medley relay.  They took fifth place.
• Johnson, Thor, Nikki Eyssen, and Kovaleske teamed to take third in the 400 free relay.

Up Next

• The Flames will take on another Big Ten opponent November 1.
• A dual meet at Michigan State will kick off a big weekend.
• UIC will visit Horizon League foe Oakland on November 2.