Feb. 18, 2006
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
Going into day three of competition the Illinois State swimming and diving team held third place. The Final meet held tonight wrapped up three days of competition for the `Birds. Missouri State started out the competition in the lead and held on to it all weekend finishing with a score of 875. The Salukis continued to hold their second place position and ended the meet with 824 points. The 2005-06 season ended with the Redbirds finishing third place in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships with a score of 765.
Head coach Steve Paska was pleased with the way the team ended the season.
"Everything just didn't click this weekend like we wanted to," said Paska. "Everything wasn't fantastic and we weren't as consistent, but the team competed hard and we did a lot of outstanding things this weekend. Tonight was a solid evening of competition and the atmosphere was great."
Christine Steinbach opened day three of competition placing sixth in the 1650-yard freestyle, known as the mile. Emily Richardson placed fifth in the 200-yard backstroke and teammate Casey McKittrick placed seventh in the event. Senior, Brittany Armstrong finished her final season placing sixth in the 200-yard Breaststroke.
The 100-yard freestyle was a point earning event for the `Birds having five swimmers place in the top sixteen. Kyle Pullman lead the event placing fifth. She was followed by senior, Monique Witkowski in seventh and Valerie Zaleski in eighth. Kathleen Borkovec and Jenna Allie also contributed points in the event. Witkowski also achieved a season goal of setting and Illinois State pool record. She accomplished that goal in the 50-yard back with a time of 27.17.
Tracy Deyell had another outstanding night placing second in the 200-yard butterfly. She achieved a personal best time in this event this morning in the prelims with 2:07.21. Senior, Katie Finan also had a personal best time of 2:09.78 in this event. Pullman, Borkovec, Zaleski and Witkowski finished the Championships placing third in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Armstrong, Finan, Witkowski, Hirt and Schneider are the five seniors that will be graduating from the program.
"This team is a great bunch," said Paska. "Our five seniors had a great weekend. Finan had season best times in every event she competed in. We have had a phenomenal season and we accomplished a lot of goals. We will plan ahead for next year and look for a better outcome."
The diving team competed on the three-meter board in the Final meet of the weekend contributing to the overall score for the team. Four of the six divers placed in the top eight, leading the way was Emily Hirt placing fourth. Katie Janonis, Jessica Bains and Erin Roche secured places six through eight. Erin Roche earned a personal best score of 210.05 on the three-meter board.
Head diving coach Tom Davidson felt the team showed a lot of consistency.
"Everyone did real well," said Davidson. "Everyone did what I wanted in both events. We are losing two great seniors. They did everything I asked of them this season. They went above and beyond every time. Kaitlin and Emily had their best seasons. Next season we plan on adding harder more difficult dives to become more competitive."
The `Birds will now begin preparing and building their team for 2006-07 season. Hirt's season is not over yet, she will now prepare for the upcoming NCAA Diving Regionals held in March.
