Felix LaFortune broke the UIC record in 1-meter diving and led the Flames men to wins over UChicago and Wabash on Senior Day at UIC Natatorium Saturday afternoon.
LaFortune, who won both diving events for the fourth time this season, bested the previous record by almost 10 points. It had stood since Woody Lord's 2012 performance.
Before the meet, UIC coaches and staff honored the 11 seniors who were competing for the final time in their home pool. Three seniors were event winners, and four more had a plethora of second and third place finishes.
"Senior Day is always emotional, but I thought our kids did a great job of handling the emotions and getting down to the business of focusing on the swimming,"
Tim Loeffler said. "Our guys had a good day against a Chicago team that is always nationally competitive in D-III and Wabash recently beat Milwaukee from the Horizon League. We were shorthanded on the girls' side with some people that usually score big points for us out sick today. The divers will get one more competition but starting now for the swimmers we are focused on getting ready for conference."
On the women's side, Chicago topped UIC. The Flames had been undefeated at home this season. Each side finished the year with just one home loss.
Event Winners - Men
- Felix LaFortune established the new school and pool 1-meter record of 350.05. He set career highs on five of his six dives and earned three 9.0s. Later, his total of 363.10 on the 3-meter board established a new career high and was his fourth straight win in the event.
- Hunter Crook was the 1000 free and 500 free winner.
- Senior Michael Tegeler won the 200 free.
- Fellow senior Danny Sivak won the 100 back and the 100 IM.
- Ben Gabbey was the first to finish the 100 breast and the 200 breast.
- Luke Hutchinson captured the 200 fly.
Event Winners – Women
- Cydney Liebenberg made it 9-for-9 on the 3-meter board with a winning score of 315.95. She followed that up with a 290.95-point performance on the 1-meter board to finish her sixth straight sweep.
- Christina Neri won the 1000 free.
- Victoria Thor continued her impressive freshman campaign with wins in the 200 free and the 500 free.
Top Performances – Men
- Andrew Lewarchick took second in both diving events and set career highs in each.
- Jacob Cunningham was second in the 1000 free.
- Gabriele Sasia, another senior, was second in the 200 fly. He also finished second in the 100 fly, one spot ahead of Sivak.
- Eric Weng was third in the 50 free.
- Josh Dellorto led a contingent of Flames, taking third in the 100 free.
- Tegeler was second in the 200 back.
- Hutchinson was right behind Crook in the 500.
Top Performances – Women
- Maya Molldrem set a season high on the 1-meter board and finished second. Her score, 275.30, was an NCAA Zone qualifying mark.
- Maddie Hawker was second in the 1000 free.
- Lauren Johnson took third in the 200 free and second in the 100 free.
- Anna Scovill was third in the 100 back and fourth in the 200 back.
- Senior Jessica Amyette took second in the 100 breast and third in the 100 IM.
- Classmate Misha Neal was second in the 50 free.
- Becca Ballo took third in the 200 breast.
- Christina Neri was third in the 500.
- Emily Sullivan took second in the 100 fly, just ahead of Lilly Culp.
Relays – Men
Relays – Women
- Anna Scovill, Becca Ballo, Mariah Clemons, and Misha Neal were third in the 200 medley relay.
- The Flames took first and second in the 400 free relay.
Up Next
- The diving squad will host the annual UIC Diving Invitational next weekend.
- The event will begin at 11 am on Saturday, February 1.
- The next competition for the swimmers will be the Horizon League Championships, beginning February 19 at Oakland.
