Saluki women defeat Illinois and Illinois State

Saturday, October 28

Normal, IL

10:30 a.m. (Diving) / 3 p.m. (Swimming)

Southern Illinois University

Illinois State, Illinois (Women Only)

10/28/2017 | 7:54:00 | Swimming & Diving

It is Southern's second straight tri-meet sweep of the season

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

The Salukis women's swimming and diving travelled to Normal, Illinois on Saturday and pulled out two big wins over Power-five conference foe, Illinois and Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State in dominating fashion. Southern beat the Fighting Illini 176-135 and Illinois State 194-106. It was the first win over a Power-five school since 2012, when the Saluki women beat Illinois 151.5 to 149.5 The Salukis won seven of the 16 events.

Southern was led by Senior Bryn Handley and Sophomore Juliana Carvalho, who both won all of the individual events they competed in.

For Handley, she took home wins in the 200, 500 and 1,000-yard freestyle. Handley swam the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.11 to win by more than two seconds over ISU's Katie Tillotson. In the 500-yard freestyle, Handley finished with a time of 4:54.86. Seniors Kelsie Walker and Nicole Fuller were third and fourth respectively in the race. Handley dominated the 1,000-yard freestyle, winning the race by nearly 20 seconds.

Carvalho continued what has been a great start to her Saluki career with wins in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke. In the 100, Carvlaho beat her previous personal best to secure the victory for SIU. Sophomore Saluki, Rita Naude, was second in the event. In the 200-yard backstroke, Carvalho swam the race in 2:06.41 to secure her second victory and the third of her career.

Naude also won a race for Southern on the evening, taking first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.90. Southern dominated the race with Emma Brazeau finishing second and freshman Abbie Young taking third. It is the best finish of Young's carer.

Abby Kresal helped the Salukis to the team sweep with two second place finishes. The first came in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.07 It is the new fastest Saluki time in the event this season by nearly a second and a half. Kresal was also second in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:09.72. She also turned in a fourth place result in the 200-yard breaststroke.

In the 200-yard butterfly, Audrey Snyder and Payton Parman secured a second and third place finish for the Salukis. In the 50-yard freestyle, McKenna Avery and Chandler Ott finished third and fourth respectively.

Sophomore Samantha Parsons had a quiet but successful meet for SIU. She was second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:22.62. In the 200-yard individual medley, she turned in a fourth place result and was fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

In diving, the Salukis continued what has been a great start to the 2017-18 campaign. In the three-meter Baobao Ji, Beibei Ji and Rachel Williams placed second, third and fourth respectively. In the one-meter, Baobao Ji won her third event of the season with a score of 293.25, setting a new personal best. Beibei Ji was second with a score of 286.25.

With the wins, the Salukis improved to 8-4 all-time over Illinois and 9-0 against Illinois State.

The Saluki women and men will be in action next weekend at home in the first quad meet of the season against Kentucky, Missouri and Northwestern.