Dec. 2, 2006
AKRON, Ohio -
At the end of day two at the SummaCare Invitational, the Redbirds move down one spot to fifth place. However, head coach Steve Paska believes the day's points were not representative of how the team swam.
"I think we had an exceptional second day," Paska said. "We had a lot of personal and season bests. We still have a chance at second or third place and that's what we will try for tomorrow."
Leading the `Birds in the 400-yard individual medley were sophomore Rebekah Layman and junior Tracy Deyell. Placing second, Layman swam with a time of 4:33.71. Following close behind in third place, Deyell swam with a time of 4:36.92. Both times are new season bests for the swimmers.
"Tracy (Deyell) had a fabulous night of competition for us," Paska said. She went faster in the morning than in the finals but she also swam in back-to-back events. I am very impressed with her performance. Tracy is one of the toughest swimmers I've been able to coach in my 10 years. She is a joy to watch compete."
Deyell placed seventh in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.07, another season best for the junior. In the same event, senior Lisa Hanrahan achieved a season best placing twelfth with a time of 59.37.
The team showed several new personal and season bests. Seniors Jamie Haseman and Kyle Pullman both reached new personal bests respectively timing in at 1:55.76 and 1:57.20 in the 200-yard freestyle. Sophomore Alison Wippermann and junior Brittany Byrd both received season best times in the 400-yard individual medley while freshman Catharine Danenhower reached a new personal best in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.57.
After the second and final day of diving competition, junior Katie Janonis placed eighth after previously placing fifth on the first day of the invitational. Head diving coach Alison Cipri was happy with the way the divers performed after having a week off before the invitational.
"Katie (Janonis) kept her head together today," Cipri said. "The girls were more focused today than yesterday and overall dove a lot better."
The SummaCare Invitational will end tomorrow with preliminaries starting at 9 a.m. and finals beginning at 4 p.m.
