Jan. 28, 2006
NORMAL,Ill. -
The swimming and diving meet opened with a farewell tribute to the five seniors. The bleachers were filled with adoring fans anticipating the competition and saying goodbye to Horton Pool for the season. The dual-meet entertained the huge crowd with two teams competing back-to-back until Illinois State came out victorious against UW-Green Bay with a final score of 129-114.
Head coach Steve Paska was pleased with the solid performance for this time of year.
"Today was exciting swimming," said Paska. "I told the team to take today's meet one event at a time, momentum can change at any time. The meet went back and forth making every point count. I am happy that the Redbirds came out victorious."
The meet started off with UW-Green Bay in the lead. The tuning point for the `Birds was the 200-yard freestyle when Kathleen Borkovec and Jamie Haseman took a one-two finish. Kyle Pullman followed up the success and placed first in the 50-yard freestyle. The meet began to change in favor of the `Birds.
In the 200-yard butterfly Tracy Deyell showed that she is recovered and back in action. She proved it by placing first in the 200-yard butterfly. Brandy Peak and Katie Finan followed her lead by placing second and third in the event. Each team continued to compete neck-and-neck making the final relay the deciding factor. Kyle Pullman, Borkovec, Monique Witkowski, and Valerie Zaleski secured the victory for ISU in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
"The last relay was a great race," said Paska. "It was a total team effort. It was really a great way to finish out the season. Now we will begin our prep work for conference. We have solid training coming up and then rest. I would like to carry today's enthusiasm and energy into conference. The victory today will give the girls added incentive to work hard."
Brittany Armstrong, Finan, Emily Hirt, Kaitlin Schneider and Monique Witkowski experienced their final competition at Horton Pool. The five seniors contributed to the team's overall success today. They ended their season at home and on top.
"They played a huge role," said Paska. "These five young ladies have done wonderful things for the program. It has been an honor to coach all of them. They have displayed true leadership roles not only in the sport, but behind the scenes as well. I hope that the underclassmen will model their approach to keep the tradition alive. They are very special people to the university and me. They will be Redbirds for life."
All six divers flopped in front a large crowd to end the season in style. A little humor and a lot of hard work allowed the divers to contribute to the overall teams success. Hirt placed first in the one-meter and the three-meter. Katie Janonis placed third on both boards and Schneider placed sixth on the three-meter.
Head diving coach Tom Davidson was pleased with the outcome.
"Both of the seniors did real well," said Davidson. "I have had fun working with them. They have made my transition into college level coaching easy. Emily did what she needed to do for the team. We need to work on consistency and cleaner entries for conference. That way we will be able to get high scores."
