Feb. 15, 2008
Final Stats
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
With a first-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley (IM) and a championship-record time of 4 minutes, 27.18 seconds from senior captain Tracy Deyell during the second day of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships, the Illinois State women's swimming and diving team holds on to its third-place position as it heads into the third, and final, day of competition Saturday. With 461.5 points, the Redbirds sit just behind Missouri State (591) and Southern Illinois (519.5), while Northern Iowa currently sits in fourth with 240 points, followed by Evansville in fifth with 209 points.
Illinois State head swimming and diving coach Steve Paska was pleased with the level of competition.
"This has been by far one of the most competitive Valley meets that I have experienced," said Paska. "So many records have been shattered so far. This has been a terrific meet to be a part of and I am looking forward to Saturday's events.
"Tracy had another fantastic day of competition. She just missed the school record for the 400-yard IM but broke the Valley-record. That combined with her school-record yesterday in the 200-yard IM was a great way to cap off her career as an IM swimmer."
Another top finisher for the Redbirds was freshman Amy Schaefer who placed third in the 100-yard butterfly event with a season-best time of 58.04, after placing fifth in the preliminary round (59.27). Sophomore Lindsay Dinkelman also had a strong day for ISU, as she took fourth-place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.08, after she placed third in the preliminaries (107.00).
Also participating in the 100-yard breaststroke finals were senior captain Valerie Zaleski, sophomore Caitlin Falconer and junior Allison Fishbein, placing fifth (1:08.01), seventh (1:09.44) and ninth (1:09.35), respectively. Fishbein (tenth), junior Alison Wippermann (11th), senior captain Christine Steinbach (13th), and sophomore Catharine Danenhower (14th) all placed in the top-24 of the 400-yard IM.
Freshman Molly Gomberg, along with junior Tiffany Rentner also qualified for the final round of the 100-yard butterfly event, placing seventh (59.80) and tenth (1:00.63), respectively.
In the final round of the 200-yard freestyle , senior captain Kathleen Borkovec placed fifth (1:55.74), freshman Ashley Bachler placed ninth (1:58.23), while senior Jena Allie placed 11th, touching the wall at 2:00.09.
In the 100-yard backstroke event, Gomberg led the Redbirds with an eighth-place time of 59.82 in the finals. Senior Emily Richardson (1:00.80), freshman Christine Byron (1:01.04) and Allie (1:02.34) also participated in the final round of the event, finishing 13th, 14th and 16th, respectively.
In the relay events, Byron, Dinkelman, Deyell and Zaleski finished fourth in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:51.12. The 800-yard medley relay, which consisted of Schaefer, Bachler, Borkovec and Deyell, finished third with a time of 7:45.94.
Friday was the first day of competition for the Redbird divers, as they competed on the 1-meter board. Senior Katie Janonis secured a first-place finish with 241.75 points in the final round. Sophomore Liza Perrino and freshman Corrie Heine also had outstanding performances, as they finished third (227.15), and fourth (224.45), respectively.
"I was really impressed with the way the divers came out and performed," said Redbird head diving coach Phil Hoffmann. "They competed to the best of their ability, and I couldn't be happier for Katie winning the 1-meter title. This is hopefully the beginning of a good weekend for her. There was strong competition from the other competitors in the final rounds from top to bottom. I am looking forward to the 3-meter competition (Saturday)."
The third, and final, day of the MVC Championship resumes Saturday with preliminary races scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., and final-round action will take place at 4 p.m.
Saturday's order of events is as follows: The 1650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 3-meter diving and the 400-yard freestyle relay. All relay teams automatically advance to the final round.
Results for the Valley Championships will be available after each session on the ISU athletics web site at GoRedbirds.com.
