In the Horizon League preseason polls, released today in advance of the season-opening meet on Saturday, UIC was picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the men's and women's standings.

UIC's men were chosen fourth, just three points behind IUPUI for third.  The Flames women slotted fifth with six points separating them from Cleveland State and Milwaukee, who were in a tie for third.

Both squads had comfortable, 11-point margins over the teams immediately behind them.

The meet Saturday, at Northwestern with Illinois, will open the competitive season but will not be the first time the team has raced under meet conditions.  At the exhibition Red vs. Blue meet September 27, head coach Tim Loeffler got a first look at his 2019-20 squad.

"I was really happy overall with what I saw," Loeffler said.  "I think a lot of it has to do with the team's preparation for the season even before school started, with their offseason training and what they were able to do on their own.  This is our best year of just being able to hit the ground running and really do the training that we need to do, so it's really exciting to see because we're already ahead of the game. 

"Red vs. Blue really showed us that for most of us we're where we need to be, if not past.  Some of us still have some work that we need to do before we get going with the other meets, but overall I think this was probably our fastest Red vs. Blue from top to bottom."

Associate head coach and head diving coach Susan Bromberg echoed Loeffler's sentiments.  "Eighty percent of the diving team is returning from last year," she said, "and they start practice off in September at a higher level so that just makes it much more fun.  At Red vs. Blue I thought overall they dove pretty well for the first meet of the season.  Now we have another meet coming up so we're starting to change our training a little bit to start looking more at getting our lists together."
 

Loeffler identified several swimmers with conference championship and national meet experience who will be key players for the Flames this season.  "Our upperclassmen on the men's side came back really strong.  Luke Hutchinson, Hunter Crook, Danny Sivak all had a really great [Red vs. Blue] competition."  Hutchinson was a double conference champion last year.  Crook won the 1650, and Sivak broke two UIC records.  Crook and Hutchinson swam at the USA Swimming Open Water Championships in May.

"Same thing with Jacob Cunningham," Loeffler continued.  "Kyle Lewarchick probably had one of the best summers and I think is really going to surprise people at the top of the conference this year by being one of the favorites to win events.

"On the women's side Cristina Neri has come back really well.  Same thing with Becca Ballo, Anna Scovill and Lauren Johnson; they've all looked really good so far."  Neri was the team's Newcomer of the Year last season and consistently finished in the top two in the distance freestyle events.  Ballo emerged as one of the team's top breaststrokers, and Scovill made strides in the backstroke and butterfly.  Johnson was a key contributor in sprint freestyle and relay races.

The diving squad has no shortage of accomplishments in its immediate past.  Cydney Liebenberg is the two-time defending Horizon League champion on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards.  "She's definitely established herself as the top diver in the conference," Bromberg stated.  "I think last year it was more of a learning experience, getting that confidence knowing that I can do it again.  Now that I know I do it again, let's just keep it going."
 

Liebenberg, Felix LaFortune, and Andrew Lewarchick all qualified for the NCAA Zone meet.  "The way we finished the season last year was on such a high note and they're excited to get back at it and compete again and see how much farther they can take themselves," Bromberg said.  "They all have goals of post-season competition.  Andrew, Cydney and Felix have set those goals even higher which is exciting. 

"They also set goals for learning new dives. Andrew being a senior trained really hard over the summer and I saw some phenomenal stuff from him over the summer so I can't wait to see him do it in meets this year.  He's definitely going to be increasing his degree of difficulty.  Cydney and Felix, same thing.  They're ready to increase their lists a little bit."

Both coaches identified the newcomers who should have an impact on the team.  "We've had some freshmen already step up which I think is huge," noted Loeffler.  "Ben Gabbey looks great and Jeff Wiedoff can also be a big contributor on the men's side.  On the women's side, Lilly Culp, Maddie Hawker, and Victoria Thor are three freshmen who I think will really hit the ground running and can earn us points."

"Abby Hellinga was a very good high school diver.  Maya Molldrem had a very strong gymnastic background and she started diving about two years ago so she came in with a very solid base of skills," Bromberg said of her only two freshmen.  "The freshman year is full of new experiences so we try not to overwhelm them too much while still setting them up for success in the future.  I think it'll be exciting for them."

Northwestern and Illinois represent two of the three Big Ten teams the Flames will swim against to start the season.  A dual meet at Michigan State is on tap for November 1, with a conference clash against defending champion Oakland the next day.  A home meet against Milwaukee, and the IUPUI House of Champions, will round out the fall portion of the team schedule.

Loeffler explained the rationale behind the season-opening stretch.  "This year we've really set the bar high.  We have a lot of expectations, a lot of goals that we haven't accomplished before as a team.  To do that, we know that we need to compete against the best and to start that out we're going to go against three Big Ten teams.

"We know our athletes can compete against those great teams, we want them to race against those teams before we get into the conference part of the season and so that's something that we've decided to do this year."

The Flames who qualify will swim at the US Open in December.  That meet will determine who will qualify for the Olympic Trials next summer.

January starts with a heavy dose of Horizon League competition.  UIC will host Cleveland State and IUPUI in a two-day, three-way meet January 10 and 11.  The team will swim at Green Bay the following weekend, before hosting Chicago and Wabash on Senior Day January 25.

The diving squad will get one final tune-up at the UIC Diving Invitational on February 1.  The Horizon League championships will take place February 19-22 at Oakland's pool in Rochester, Michigan.

Horizon League Men's Preseason Poll

	Team	Points (First Place Votes)
1.	Oakland	42 (6)
2.	Cleveland State	39 (1)
3.	IUPUI	34
4.	UIC	31
5.	Milwaukee	20
6.	Green Bay	17
7.	Youngstown State	7

Horizon League Women's Preseason Poll

	Team	Points (First Place Votes)
1.	Oakland	42 (6)
2.	IUPUI	37
3.	Cleveland State	31 (1)
	Milwaukee	31
5.	UIC	25
6.	Green Bay	14
7.	Youngstown State	9