CINCINNATI, Ohio. – Indiana State finished off day one of their mid-season meets the Bearcat and Purdue Invitationals today (Nov. 16).

Indiana State came out a little sluggish for the morning preliminary session starting at 10 a.m. However, despite the slow start multiple Sycamores still earned a spot in the finals session.

Cierra Campbell earned herself a lane in the B final of the 500 freestyle with a preliminary time of 5:14.76.

Blanca Saez-Illobre also earned a spot a in the B final of the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.58.

"The morning session was a bit of a wakeup call for our program and we knew that during the finals session we needed to continue to work on coming out hot right away and progressing throughout a meet like this," said head coach Matt Leach.

While the Indiana State swimmers traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio for the Bearcat Invite, the divers and coach Fengting Cheng, hopped on the bus to West Lafayette to compete in the Purdue Invite facing some of their toughest competition yet.

Senior Laura Fulton and sophomore Mckenzie Plummer both competed strong against opponents from Purdue, Florida, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Missouri State and Southern Illinois.

The pair placed 28^th and 29^th in the three meter dive with Fulton earning a score of 151.70 and Plummer adding a 120.50.

Indiana State started off the finals session in a stronger fashion than their morning preliminaries.

The relay team of Alex Malmborg, Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Kendall Hansen and Joelle Borchers opened the evening with a fourth place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, narrowly missing the school record with a time of 1:36.84.

Campbell then kept the momentum rolling as she placed fifth in the B final of the 500 freestyle and 13^th overall posting a time of 5:10.83 which was a four second improvement on her time from the preliminary heat.

Vivian Kritikou, Jacquie Price, Elisabeth Peskin and Madison Brand all provided solid performances in the C final as well.

In the 200 IM Blanca Saez-Illobre placed 15^th overall as Megan Schade followed closely behind placing 17^th with a lifetime best time of 2:09.50. Malmborg then provided the Sycamores with a strong finish in the 50 freestyle as she placed 11^th adding a time of 23.85.

The Sycamores finished off the day with a fourth place finish in the 400 medley relay.

"We did a much better job tonight as most of our times improved from the morning session to this evening. We're hoping to carry the energy and enthusiasm we brought tonight into morning to help put us in a better position for tomorrow night's finals session," said Leach.

Both the swimmers and divers will be back in the pool tomorrow (Nov. 17) for preliminary heats starting at 10 a.m. followed by the day two finals sessions beginning at 6 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.