After a short break in its season, the Illinois State swimming and diving team will travel to Carbondale, Ill., for the 2004 Missouri Valley Swimming and Diving Championship meet. Action gets underway Thursday, and head coach
Steve Paska believes his team is ready to compete.
Weve been looking forward to this meet since August, said Paska. The team has had almost three weeks to prepare, and theyve done a fantastic job in practice during that time. I know theyre anxious to compete, and excited that the time is finally here.
The meet is being held at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium, in the Student Recreation Center at Southern Illinois University. Competition will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. each day and finals at 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 5 p.m. Saturday.
Diving events will be held at various times throughout the weekend. The 1-meter and 3-meter preliminaries will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and Saturday, and the finals for both events will be held at 8:15 p.m. Thursday and 7:15 p.m. Saturday.
Julie Cocks returns to the Valley Championship in the 2003-2004 season to defend two titles. First, the 100 butterfly event, where she posted a Valley record and personal best of 56.41 last year. Cocks also championed the 200 butterfly in another personal-best time of 2.06.58. Heading into the championship meet this year, Cocks holds the third best time in the 100, and fifth best in the 200, while her record in the 100 remains intact.
Krystal Featherston will defend the 1-meter and 3-meter dive titles at the 2003-2004 Valley Championship. Last year, Featherston posted a score of 241.20 in the 1-meter and a 474.45 in the 3-meter, and went on to the NCAA Zone C meet in both events for the second year in a row. Heading into the championship meet this year, Featherston holds the top diving scores in the Valley in the 1-meter, 3-meter and 3-meter 11 dive events.
In the Valley Prechampionship Poll, voted on by conference coaches, the Redbirds are picked to finish third. Southwest Missouri is the unanimous first-place pick, followed by Southern Illinois. Evansville is picked fourth, with Northern Iowa rounds out the field in fifth.
