SIU 1650 Free Results 
Oct. 2, 2009
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Illinois State's swimmers picked up multiple personal-best times at the 1650 Free Invite at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium, it was the first competition of the two day trip to SIU Friday evening. The Redbirds will compete again Saturday in the 5k Open Water Invite at 9 a.m., at Little Grassy Lake in Carbondale, Ill. In Saturday's event, the `Birds will be competing against SIU, Missouri and Evansville.
Head coach Steve Paska was pleased with the team's performance in the first day of swimming.
"For it being so early in the season I think that the team gave a very solid showing tonight," Paska said. "Everyone swam with great intensity, especially since some of the swimmers that have never competed in a 1650-yard freestyle before."
Junior Amy Schaefer achieved a personal-best in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:05.44 along with junior Christine Byron as she recorded personal-best times in the 1650-freestyle with an 18:06.14 as well as a split time of 10:57.96 in the 1000-yard freestyle. Freshman Jeanette Nolte had an impressive swim as a newcomer with a personal-best time of 18:03.94 in the 1650-freestyle and 10:56.21 the 1000-freestyle split as well.
"There was a great amount of energy amongst the team tonight and that was great to see since we were going into back-to-back competitions this weekend," Paska said. "Saturday's meet is an entirely different environment and a lot of the swimmers have never competed in an outdoor natural-water arena before, so it will definitely be interesting to see how the team rises to the challenge."
The women's event will start at 9 a.m., on Saturday. The Little Grassy Lake is a one-mile loop that the swimmers will race through three times to complete the event.
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