The Illinois State swimming and diving team was lead by divers Krystal Featherston, Terra Whisman and Emily LaVoie, in its first dual meet of the season at Horton Pool on Friday night. The three divers finished first, second and third in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, while several swimmers posted personal best times and first-place finishes in the teams 185-116 loss to Ball State.
Monique Witkowski took first place in three swimming events, including the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, as well as the 200 freestyle where she posted a personal best time of 1:58.34. Kyle Pullman proved to be Witkowskis biggest competition in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, as Pullman finished second behind her teammate in both events.
Diving coach Carly Weiden was pleased with the performance of all of her competitors, and glad the divers capitalized in their two events.
I thought the whole team dove very well, said Weiden. They were all out there trying new things, making adjustments as they went and that, as a coach, was a very good thing to see. I think its important for the divers to make the most of the two events we get scored in, and we definitely did that tonight.
Head coach
Steve Paska also expressed enthusiasm about the swimmers performance in the meet, terming the event competitive.
There were several close races tonight, said Paska. It was a very competitive meet, even though the score might not indicate that, but I was pleased with the overall effort of the team. We had some good times posted for this early in the season and there were also a couple of personal best times. Several of our girls had a solid meet, and I was pleased to see that.
Jenny Klicka went the distance for the Birds, posting second place finishes in the 1000 freestyle and 500 freestyle events, while Jamie Haseman also had a solid meet performance, recording a personal best of 10:54.84 in the 1000 freestyle. Katie Finan posted her ISU personal best in the 200 IM with a 2:13.42 to finish in second place.
The Redbirds return to the water on Friday Oct. 24 when they travel to Illinois for a 6 p.m. meet.
