Porter Earning second 1650-yard free champion medal

Porter Claims 1650-Yard Free Title, Dilger All-Conference on Final Day of CCIW Meet

Dilger sees All-CCIW nod in 200-yard fly

2/22/2025 9:49:00 PM

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's and women's swim and dive teams finished up competition at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swimming and Diving Championships, Saturday Feb. 22. The IWU women placed fourth, while the men took fifth.

The final day featured Illinois Wesleyan's first individual champion of the week in junior Natalie Porter (Danville, Ill.-Danville), while senior Carter Dilger (Sellersburg, Ind.-Jeffersonville) garnered All-CCIW status in the 200-yard butterfly. Overall, the Titans secured five all-conference finishes spread among four swimmers.

Porter went into Saturday's final with a 1650-yard freestyle seed time of 18:22.90, the fastest in conference. The Danville, Ill. native shaved off 42.24 seconds of her previous time during the finals to clock in 17:40.66, about 30 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Porter is the first Titan since Meg Stanley to win the 1650-yard freestyle in back-to-back years, having won the event a season ago.

The Green and White had six women swim in the event, with two dropping their times by over a minute. Senior Alexa Starkey (Normal, Ill.-Normal Community West), along with sophomores Julianna Boyle (Carol Stream, Ill.-Glenbard North) and Claire Paule (Godfrey, Ill.-Alton) placed fourth (18:14.44), fifth (18:15.30), and seventh (18:31.30), putting four Titans in the top ten, respectively.

Dilger made the most of his last individual swim of his collegiate career where he swam the 200-yard butterfly. Earlier in the day, Dilger placed sixth in the preliminaries, solidifying his spot for the finals with a time of 1:57.14, already shaving five seconds off of his previous best this season. In the finals, Dilger dropped another 2.83 seconds off of his preliminaries time to bump him up to second place, good for an All-CCIW finish.

Sophomore Sam Borre (Hoffman Estates, Illl.-James B. Conant) finished fourth in the 200-yard backstroke finals (2:07.84), touching the wall just a fingers-length behind third place, where Wheaton's Olivia Wiebe clocked in a 2:07.19. Junior Kayleigh Kuschewski (Batavia, Ill.-Batavia) locked down fifth place in the 200-yard breaststroke finals, clocking in at 2:32.59, knocking five seconds off of her previous season-best.

Freshman Tate Thomas (Joliet, Ill.-Joliet West) was the sole Titan men's swimmer in the 1650-yard freestyle and placed fifth overall. The freshman swam a 16:37.06 while dropping 1:12.12 off of his previous time.

IWU finished out the competition with the 400-yard freestyle relays that saw the women earn fourth place and the men take sixth. Starkey and senior Emily Marks (Cary, Ill.-Cary Grove), teamed up with freshmen Julia Jozwiak (McHenry, Ill.-Wauconda) and Isabella Cano (River Grove, Ill.-East Leyden), to time in at the wall with a 3:42.78. The men competed with Thomas, senior Colin McKibben (Green Oaks, Ill.-Libertyville), and freshmen Ben Huk (Des Plaines, Ill.-Maine West) and Jacob Nacional (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Bolingbrook) clocking a 3:19.05.

Starkey and McKibben were named IWU's CCIW RESPECT Award recipients, while Porter, Dilger, Cano, and Kuschewski earned All-CCIW honors over the course of the week.

The meet marked the conclusion of the 2024-25 season as well as the final in the careers of Alexa Starkey, Emily Marks, Colin McKibben, and Carter Dilger.

IWU Individual Results

Women 200-yard back Prelims
4. Sam Borre 2:10.07

Women 200-yard back Finals
4. Sam Borre 2:07.84

Men 200-yard back Prelims
11. Colin McKibben 2:06.58

Men 200-yard back Finals
11. Colin McKibben 2:03.82

Women 100-yard free Prelims
8. Emily Marks 55.45
13. Julia Jozwiak 56.21
14. Isabella Cano 57.10

Women 100-yard free Finals
8. Emily Marks 55.42
12. Julia Jozwiak 55.60
16. Isabella Cano 57.69

Women 200-yard breast Prelims
6. Kayleigh Kuschewski 2:33.98
16. Caroline Stenger 2:45.68

Women 200-yard breast Finals
5. Kayleigh Kuschewski 2:32.59
16. Caroline Stenger 2:37.13

Men 200-yard breast Prelims
14. Ben Huk 2:21.69

Men 200-yard breast Finals
14. Ben Huk 2:19.05

Men 200-yard fly Prelims
6. Carter Dilger 1:57.14
12. Jacob Nacional 2:03.79

Men 200-yard fly Finals
2. Carter Dilger 1:54.31
11. Jacob Nacional 1:59.80

Women 1650-yard free finals
1. Natalie Porter 17:40.66
4. Alexa Starkey 18:14.44
5. Julianna Boyle 18:15.30
7. Claire Paule 18:31.30
16. Emilee Spicer 20:17.82
17. Caroline Stenger 20:36.95

Men 1650-yard free finals
5. Tate Thomas 16:37.06

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