Clapp, fellow seniors enjoy home farewell

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CHAMPAIGN – An Illinois senior class so happy to have a home pool closed out its return season to the Athletics and Recreation Center in style Saturday.

Winning 14 of 16 events on Senior Day, the Illini beat Illinois State 219-81 to improve to 5-1 in dual swimming meets.

Bismarck-Henning product Marissa Clapp provided the highlights, breaking a 13-year-old pool record in winning the 400-yard individual medley in 4 minutes, 21.28 seconds. The senior also won the 100 free.

"We wanted to make sure we swam the 400 IM for her this meet because we knew that she had a shot at breaking the pool record," Illinois coach Sue Novitsky said. "She did a great job with the race and we are happy for her to have her name up on the board again."

Seniors Katie Theissen and Ali Keehn also delivered. Theissen won the 100 back (59.02) and 100 free (53.92). Keehn was a part of the first-place 200 medley relay team and was fourth in the 200 breast (2:30.77) and fifth in the 100 breast (1:09.77).

"The seniors raced really well," Novitsky said. "All three have improved a lot over the years. There was a lot of emotion with today being Senior Day, but they did a great job containing it and racing hard.

"We wanted to send the seniors out on a good note. A lot of people swam different events today, so it was a good opportunity for them to mix it up a bit."

Junior Amy Johnson won the 100 breast (1:06.60) and sister Anna Johnson won the 50 free (24.41). Other winners included: Kelly Smithwick (200 fly), CeCe Marizu (200 back), April McKee (200 breast), Amy Forsberg (500 free), Jen Ivarson (100 fly) and Britni Fisher (1-meter diving).

In women's tennis:

Tennessee 4, Illinois 3. The visiting Volunteers' performance in doubles was the difference.

"I'm probably the happiest I could be for losing 4-3," UI coach Michelle Dasso said. "I think the girls battled their tails off and I think we're narrowing the gap. We lost to them twice last year, 6-1 and 4-0, and it was 4-3 today in a match that was determined by points.

"It'll be interesting to see how the girls respond tomorrow (against Miami of Ohio) and if they come prepared to play like they did today, I feel confident about our chances."

Leigh Finnegan sparked the UI in singles with a win at No. 1.

"She's shown so much growth out there this year," Dasso said. "She's focused on her conditioning and she's making so many more balls than she ever would've a year ago.

Megan Fudge and freshman Amy Allin also won in singles.

In men's gymnastics:

Illini down Buckeyes. Sophomore standout Paul Ruggeri won the all-around as Illinois beat No. 7 Ohio State 351.950-349.050 at Huff Hall.

"We had a better performance on every event compared to last week at Windy City," UI coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "Throughout the week we were much more motivated and had more desire to correct the mistakes that we made in Chicago."

Ruggeri (high bar) and Luke Stannard (pommel horse) won event titles.

In women's gymnastics:

Iowa beats Illinois. Marijka Botterman won the vault and uneven bars and freshman Kelsey Joannides won the balance beam in the Illini's 194.950-194.400 loss at Huff Hall.

"After a slow start, I'm very pleased with the way the girls bounced back," UI coach Bob Starkell said.

Botterman tied her career high and equaled the third-best score in school history (9.900) in the vault.

Joannides was second in the all-around competition (39.050), just behind Iowa's Houry Gebeshian.

"Kelsey and Marijka both looked great tonight," Starkell said. "Marijka has been limited in practice and really came back strong tonight."

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