CHICAGO – Indiana State swimming and diving fell to the UIC Flames today (Oct. 7) by a final score of 177-121.

"The meet was another strange dynamic for our program. We're trying to build toughness and coming into face a good team like UIC we wanted to test ourselves to see where we're at and we came out a little flat, so we'll continue to work on coming out aggressive right from the start," said head coach Matt Leach.

Despite the loss the Sycamores battled through today's dual meet with UIC as multiple members of the young squad provided stand out performances.

The Flames took the first few as ISU earned second place finishes in the 400 medley relay and 1000 freestyle.

Indiana State picked up the pace rattling off multiple first place finishes in the next few events.

Kendall Hansen came up big with a first place finish in the 100 backstroke and a time of 59.32. Hansen later added a first place finish in the 200 backstroke with a 2:06.08.

Martina Marks followed with a first place finish of her own. Marks dominated the 200 yard butterfly posting a time of 2:10.95.

Alex Malmborg came out hot in the 50 freestyle earning herself a first place finish and a time of 24.49.

Jacquie Price added to this list late in the meet when she reached the wall first in the 100 butterfly. Price finished with a time of 58.84.

Blanca Saez-Illobre, Megan Schade, Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Cierra Campbell and Joelle Borchers also provided strong performances for the Sycamores.

"The middle of the meet was a back and forth battle between both teams, but we had a lot of people step up and win events for us today. All in all it was a step in the right direction. The overall times weren't where we want to be at, but when a program is growing and you're trying to build toughness you need these back to back days," said Leach.

Indiana State will be back in the pool on Oct. 13 traveling to face off with the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. at 5 p.m.

The following day (Oct. 14) the Sycamores will host their first home meet of the season welcoming Xavier and Olivet Nazarene to the Vigo County Aquatic Center at 2 p.m.

For the latest information on the Sycamore Swimming and Diving team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.