Feb. 17, 2006
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
The first day of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Carbondale, Ill. ended with Illinois State and Southern Illinois tied for second place. After an exhilarating day of competition the Redbirds swimming and diving team moved to third place (492). They follow first place Missouri State (563) and second place Southern Illinois (521). The `Birds are heading into the third day of competition looking to make a move and close the gap between the top two teams and themselves.
Head coach Steve Paska was impressed with the energy that was put into tonight's competition.
"What a difference one day makes," said Paska. " The building was full of so much adrenaline. Tonight was one of the most exciting and deep competitions I have seen in the Valley in years. We had a great morning and swam very well tonight. They girls are giving everything they have, and I am not disappointed at all."
Monique Witkowski, Brittany Armstrong, Lisa Hanrahan and Kyle Pullman opened day two finals with a third place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Hanrahan also earned a personal best time and a fifth place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (58.98). Also performing well in the 100-yard butterfly was Tracy Deyell with a fourth place finish.
The 400-yard individual medley was a point earning event for the `Birds with three top eight finishes. Deyell placed second (4:32.85), followed by Rebekah Layman in fourth (4:33.17) and Katie Finan in fifth (4:34.85). Deyell and Layman both earned personal best times in this event. The team will be ready to compete Saturday morning with the same effort they have for the past two days of competition.
"We are going to continue to swim with effort," said Paska. "Our goal is to get as many people in the top eight tomorrow morning. We have one more day and I know that we will finish in fine fashion, we just need to lay down the line one more time and see what happens."
The `Birds will head into the third and final day of the Championships beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 18 with preliminary rounds. The Final round on Saturday will start at 5 p.m. and will end with a Missouri Valley Champion.
