Lindsay Crowder placed third in two events, the 50-yard freestyle and as anchor of the 200-yard freestyle relay and Andrea Lovelle took second in the 1-meter diving as Illinois State held fourth place in the first day of the 2001 Missouri Valley Conference swimming and diving championships at Southern Illinois University.
Deborah Birrer, Brittany Erickson and Megan Yontz all joined Crowder on the 200-yard freestyle relay team. Crowder, Birrer and Erickson all were members of the 2000 group which won that event. Lovelle, with 249.8 points, trailed only Southwest Missouri States Vanessa Noriega with 264.45.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Crowder placed behind Evansvilles Kim Dodson and Southern Illinois Brooke Radostits.
After the first day of competition in the three-day meet, the Redbirds had 152 points.
Southern Illinois, the host team, was on top in the team standings with 293 points. Evansville was second with 222 and Southwest Missouri State was third with 170 points.
The Redbirds, who have won the meet six times in the past 15 years, will have 12 more individual events on Friday.
