Illinois College is back in the water after an absence of 28 years, and the new crew of swimmers appears eager to begin writing the sport’s newest chapter.
Gale Vaughn welcomed 12 candidates when practice got underway in late October, and the season officially got underway November 10 when the Blueboys and Lady Blues competed at the Monmouth College Invitational.
The IC Swim Complex opened in 2003, but this will be the first time that an intercollegiate swim program uses the facility as its practice site. The eight-lane, competition-size pool is ideally suited to meet all the team’s needs, and Vaughn said he hopes to make arrangements to host a swim meet in the Bruner Center sometime during the 2008-2009 season. For now, the IC men and women will embark upon a season of meets on the road, with dates in December at Lindenwood University in St. Louis, followed by a series of invitationals at Knox College, Eureka College and Principia College in January and February.
The inaugural season will conclude at the Midwest Conference Championship Swim Meet, February 15-17, at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.
The return of swimming to Illinois College marks the renewal of a program that saw its last competitive activity in 1979. During the 1960s and ’70s, Illinois College fielded a team that featured men in the individual and relay events, along with women on the diving team. The new team is believed to usher in the arrival of women’s swim competition for the first time on the hilltop campus.