Mark Black

Porter Earns All-CCIW Nod on Day Two of CCIW Championships

Tomorrow sees 10 individual events

2/20/2025 10:01:00 PM

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan University swim and dive teams competed in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Thursday Feb. 20, hitting the halfway mark of the four-day College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swim and Dive Championships. One Titan finished with All-CCIW recognition to round out day two.

The morning sessions feature solely preliminary races with the top-16 swimmers of each event moving on to compete in the finals in the evening.

Both IWU teams started out the night competing in the 200-yard freestyle relay and ending the night with the 400-yard medley relay.

The women competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay with freshman Isabella Cano (River Grove, Ill.-East Leyden), junior Kayleigh Kuschewski (Batavia, Ill.-Batavia), and seniors Emily Marks (Cary, Ill.Cary Grove) and Alexa Starkey (Normal, Ill.-Normal Community West). The four swam a time of 1:41.04 which was good for a fourth place finish.

For the men, seniors Carter Dilger (Sellersburg, Ind.-Jeffersonville) and Colin McKibben (Green Oaks, Ill.-Libertyville) teamed up with freshmen Tate Thomas (Joliet, Ill.-Joliet West) and Ben Huk (Des Plaines, Ill.-Maine West) to swim the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Titans placed sixth overall with a time of 1:30.85.

Junior Natalie Porter (Danville, Ill.-Danville) climbed the podium as she placed second in the 500-yard freestyle event. The junior clocked a time of 5:12.64 in the finals, good for a runner-up medal and an All-CCIW nod. The Danville, Ill. native dropped seven seconds off of her time in the preliminary rounds earlier this morning, swimming a 5:11.28, beating her career-best by five seconds (5:16.03).

Dilger had an impressive performance as well in the 500-yard freestyle. In the preliminaries, Dilger finished with a time of 4:43.12, shaving off 17 seconds from his previous career-best (5:00.60). The Sellersburg, Ind. native placed eighth overall in the finals. Thomas showed promise as well, nearly taking off 25 seconds of his previous time. The freshman clocked in a 4:48.31 in the preliminary rounds to push him into the finals where he ultimately placed 12th.

Kuschewski finished in fourth place in the 200-yard individual medley touching the wall at 2:13.91, just shy of her career-best by nearly half a second. Sophomore Sam Borre (Hoffman Estates, Ill.-James B. Conant) finished with a time of 2:16.06, swimming six seconds faster than her previous career-best (2:22.78).

For the last two events of the evening IWU put together two relay teams to compete in the 400-yard medley relay. Borre, Kuschewski, Cano, and Marks finished fourth with a final time of 4:08.05. The men finished fifth overall in McKibben, Huk, Dilger, and freshman Jacob Nacional (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Bolingbrook). The quartet clocked in 3:41.35.

Day three of the CCIW Swim and Dive Championships will commence tomorrow starting with preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. and finals starting at 6 p.m. in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Live stats and live stream can be found at CCIW.org under the Swim Championships page.

IWU Individual Events
Women 500-yard Free Prelims
2. Natalie Porter 5:11.28
7. Alexa Starkey 5:19.72
9. Julianna Boyle 5:26.93
10. Claire Paule 5:27.22
18. Emilee Spicer 5:53.22

Women 500-yard Free Finals
2. Natalie Porter 5:12.64
6. Alexa Starkey 5:17.92
9. Claire Paule 5:21.19
10. Julianna Boyle 5:23.05

Men 500-yard Free Prelims
7. Carter Dilger 4:43.12
13. Tate Thomas 4:48.31
16. Jacob Nacional 4:55.84
19. Colin McKibben 5:13.67

Men 500-yard Free Finals
8. Carter Dilger 4:47.52
12. Tate Thomas 4:49.70
16. Jacob Nacional 4:55.57

Women 200-yard IM Prelims
4. Kayleigh Kuschewski 2:14.67
6. Sam Borre 2:17.57

Women 200-yard IM Finals
4. Kayleigh Kuschewski 2:13.91
6. Samantha Borre 2:16.06

Women 50-yard Free Prelims
9. Isabella Cano 25.31
11. Emily Marks 25.41
19. Julia Jozwiak 26.34

Women 50-yard Free Finals
10. Isabella Cano 25.53
11. Emily Marks 25.37

Men 50-yard Free Prelims
15. Ben Huk 23.18

Men 50-yard Free Finals
15. Ben Huk 22.98

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