Dec. 5, 2008
Akron, Ohio -
The Illinois State swimming and diving team achieved several outstanding performances as the Redbirds captured a third-place score with 406.5 points after day one of the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio, Friday. With multiple personal-best and season-best performances the `Birds follow closely behind Akron (445) and Ohio (431.5) as they head into day two of competition.
Head swimming and diving coach Steve Paska feels the team performed well against strong competition.
"The success of tonight was a total team effort," said Paska. "We had just an abundance of season-best and personal-best times. It was a terrific day of swimming for Illinois State. We had a lot of tremendous efforts from the team and I think that is why we are sitting in third place."
Sophomore Lauren Terzis boasted a second-place finish and personal-best time in the 500-yard freestyle event as she touched the wall with a time of 5:01.56. Junior Caitlin Falconer, sophomore Ashley Bachler, and freshmen Sarah Coghlin and Michele Stoeppelman followed suit as each achieved personal-best times in their respective events. During preliminaries Falconer shattered her personal-best record with a time 5:05.60 before taking seventh in final-round action of the 500-yard freestyle event.
Stoeppelman finished the 500-yard freestyle event in 12th place with a personal-best time of 5:06.32. Coghlin and Bachler each achieved personal-best times in preliminaries with times of 5:05.65 and 5:08.74 before going on to place eighth and 15th in final-round action, respectively.
"Our success in the 500-yard freestyle event at the start of the meet set the tone for us," Paska said. "Lauren finished with a time 5:03.37 in the prelims, before placing second in finals. I think the strong finishes from all of the girls gave the team the confidence it needed for the rest of the meet. It gave us a terrific start to the night."
Senior Allison Fishbein led the Redbirds in the 200-yard Individual Medley (IM) event as she achieved a personal-best time and fifth-place finish with a time of 2:09.23. Freshman Sarah Piechocinski finished preliminaries with a personal-best time of 2:12.28 in the 200-yard IM before going on to place 14th in final-round action.
The 50-yard freestyle event proved to be just as successful for the `Birds as Senior Jessica Santi set a personal-best record with a time of 24.36 in preliminaries before going on to place seventh in finals with a time of 24.44. Placing 11th for the Redbirds was Freshman Lauren Boyd finishing the final race with a time of 24.39.
Boyd, Santi, senior Tiffany Rentner and sophomore Amy Schaefer comprised the 200-yard freestyle event as they went on to achieve a sixth-place finish with a final time of 1:37.24.
Sophomore Christine Byron, Schaefer, junior Lindsay Dinkelman and Terzis finished eighth in the 400-yard Medley relay event for the `Birds. Fishbein, Boyd, sophomore Molly Gomberg, and freshman Amber Siggins followed closely behind with a tenth-place finish and a time of 3:59.73.
While the divers fell short of finishing among the top-eight performances, head diving coach Phil Hoffmann is happy that the divers were able to add to the team's overall score.
"All six of our divers scored points for the team in the one-meter competition," Hoffmann said. "I was happy that all of the divers were able to contribute to the team's total points."
With day one completed, the Redbirds are ready to focus on day two of the three-day competition.
"We have to take one day at a time," Paska said. "With the way that we started the meet, we have to maintain our focus and intensity as we finish the weekend. I think we have a very realistic chance of finishing in the top three and I think that is a goal that we are aiming for."
The second day of the Zippy Invitational competition will continue tomorrow with preliminaries races scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Final-round action will take place at 6 p.m.
