The 400 medley relay team composed of Andrea Neubauer, Angie Rawlins, Julie Cocks and Monique Witkowski set a new Illinois State school record after winning the event in a time of 3:53.72, as the Redbird swimmers sit in third-place after day one of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships hosted by Southern Illinois. The new 400 medley record shatters the old mark of 3:54.75 set in 1995.
The Redbirds have 211 points behind first-place Southwest Missouri State (265) and second-place Southern Illinois (227), with Evansville (130) and Northern Iowa (115) rounding out the field.
Diver Krystal Featherston also earned a first-place finish by winning the one-meter board after posting a score of 241.20. Kate Johnson, Terra Whisman and Emily LaVoie also broke into the point standings after claiming the fourth through sixth spots, respectively.
Illinois State diving coach Laura Segerlin is pleased with how her divers performed after day one of competition, and is expecting them to build from tonights success as they head into tomorrow's 3-meter competition.
"The divers held up to our goals tonight, and I'm ecstatic right now," said Segerlin. "Tomorrow I want them to stay the same, stay focused and see what we can do."
Tomorrow is the second day of the three-day championships with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals slated for 6 p.m. Saturday concludes the meet with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m.
-- 30 --
