Jan. 18, 2008
NORMAL,Ill. -
After taking a successful team bonding trip to Puerto Rico, the Illinois State swimming and diving team is as strong as ever, as it heads to the Lewellen Aquatic Center in Muncie, Ind., to take on Ball State Saturday at 1 p.m. The `Birds fell to the Cardinals at home last season with a final score of 190-110. With a current 6-2 dual-meet record, the team will look to continue its early-season success into the spring semester.
ISU Head swimming and diving coach Steve Paska is looking forward to seeing how his team will compete.
"I am anxiously awaiting to see how we will respond since competing in Akron (Ohio)," said Paska. "We have had a solid fall semester academically and took a fantastic trip to Puerto Rico (Dec. 1-10). We have had an outstanding week of practice this week after making necessary adjustments. We need to put our racing suits, caps and goggles on and see how we compete Saturday afternoon."
With less than a month until the Missouri Valley Conference, Paska feels that this is an important meet for the team to compete in.
"Ball State runs a solid program," said Paska. "We have always had competitive dual-meets with the Cardinals as they are a competitive group of swimmers. In my 23 years here, we have competed with them almost every single year and it has continuously been a competitive meet format. This meet will help prepare us for our home finale (Saturday Jan. 26) as well as the Missouri Valley Conference Championship (Feb. 14-16). We have to keep our goals in mind as we prepare for the end of the year and form a strategic plan for these next few meets."
Head diving coach Phil Hoffmann is also looking forward to facing the tough competition Ball State offers.
"I am looking forward to the meet as it will be a good benchmark to see where we are competitively," said Hoffmann. "It will help us prepare for our final meet at Horton pool and help us get ready for the Missouri Valley Conference. Ball State has a talented group of divers that are comparable to the top divers in the conference. This will help us look at what improvements and changes we need to make before the conference championships.
