Jan. 20, 2007
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -
Bill Ritter Final Results
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After the second and final day of competition at the Bill Ritter Invitational, the Illinois State swimming and diving team placed third for the second-consecutive year with 818 points. Though falling to the host school of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1086) and Wisconsin-Green Bay (1057), the Redbirds were able to edge out Illinois-Chicago (528).
Head coach Steve Paska acknowledged that the competition was solid this weekend and was pleased with the efforts of the team.
"I have to give credit where credit is due," said Paska. "Milwaukee and Green Bay swam very well this weekend, but I definitely don't think our team has anything to be disappointed about."
Just 10 minutes after swimming in the 200 breaststroke competition, junior Tracy Deyell finished second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:11.16. The 1650-yard freestyle was a high-scoring event for Illinois State as they captured the second, third and fourth place positions. Finishing second and swimming a personal-best time was Rebekah Layman with a 17:47.42. Finishing third was junior Christine Steinbach with a time of 17:57.55, while senior Jamie Haseman finished fourth with a time of 17:59.43. Erin Woodruff also competed in the 1650-freestyle and swam a personal best time of 18:17.42.
Paska also recognized that many of the swimmers were exhausted from the amount of swimming they did during today's meet.
"Some of our swimmers swam in as many as eight events today," Paska said. "We did a lot of positive things though and now we need to get ready for our final double-dual meet next weekend."
The Redbird swimmers and divers will make another appearance in Wisconsin next weekend to compete in a double-dual meet against Wisconsin-Green Bay and Youngstown. Competition is set to begin on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 12:00 p.m.
