Head coach
Steve Paska announced the signing of three student-athletes to the Illinois State swimming program. Brittany Byrd, Stephanie Houk and Christine Steinbach have all signed national letters of intent to swim for the Redbirds.
Brittany Byrd, a Dayton, Ohio native and senior at Vandalia-Butler, will contribute in the backstroke and IM events. She currently holds Butler school records in nine events, and has been a district and state qualifier. Byrd has been a member of the Dayton Raider USS swim club program since 1997. Her club swimming highlights include AA finalist, senior meet finalist and Raider record holder.
Illinois State head coach
Steve Paska is excited about the versatility and work ethic Byrd will provide to the Redbird team.
Brittany has the versatility that is one of the key ingredients that Im looking for to build this 2004-2005 class, said Paska. She can swim the backstroke, the IM, the butterfly and even the sprint and middle distance free for us. Her work ethic is outstanding, and those are the types of kids that I truly enjoy having.
Byrd plans to pursue a marketing degree from the school of business.
Stephanie Houk, an Urbana, Ill. native, will contribute to the team in the breaststroke events, as well as the sprint and middle distance freestyle events, and the 200 individual medley.
Stephanie comes in as a breaststroker, that is one particular area where we need to add quality depth to our roster, said Paska. Shes a very hungry, motivated swimmer that is already asking what she can do to be a significant contributor as a freshman. She is willing to pay the price in the water and in the weight room, and will be a fun young lady to coach over the next four years.
Houk is a YMCA conference, district and state champ, as well as a Junior Olympics state champ and zone qualifier. She plans to study nursing during her college career at Illinois State.
Rounding out the signees is Christine Steinbach, a St. Louis native and senior at St. Josephs Academy. Steinbach swims for the Rockwood Swim Club in St. Louis, and will compete in all of the freestyle events, from the 100 to the mile, for the Redbirds, as well as the 200 and 400 individual medley.
Christine comes from one of the best swim clubs in the Midwest and will provide this team with even more versatility, said Paska. Shes going to bring so many things to the table for us because shes another quality freestyler that compliments the existing group that we already have.
Steinbach finaled in three events at the US Speedo Sectional meet over the summer, and is undecided in her major.
All of these ladies are excellent additions to the Redbird swimming family, Paska stressed. Each of them got along great with the team on their visits and will have no trouble fitting in. Theyre all hard workers with a passion for the sport, the drive to work hard and a hunger to continue their careers.
