Akron Day 1 Results in PDF Format 
Dec. 4, 2009
AKRON, Ohio -
The Illinois State swimming and diving accomplished multiple team and personal-best performances at the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio, Friday which led the Redbirds to a third-place score of 396.5. Junior Lauren Terzis set a new Zippy Invitational record with her first-place and personal-best performance in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.81.
Illinois State finished the day just behind Akron (415) and Ohio (427).
Head coach Steve Paska was proud of the team's strong opening performance.
"Starting out with some strong finishes early was a great way to start the meet," Paska said. "We had a handful of student-athletes put out personal-bests tonight, and by not relying on just one or two people we were able to get into a good position for the weekend."
In the 500-yard freestyle, six Redbirds placed in the top-14 of the event which gave ISU a boost in points and the third-place position. Illinois State's two 400-yard medley relay teams also assisted by giving the `Birds a 96-point bump in the final standings.
The 400-medley relay teams consisted of Molly Gomberg, Caitlin Falconer, Sarah Rendek and Terzis with a time of 3:55.32, and Christine Byron, Lindsay Dinkleman, Jeanette Nolte and Amy Schaefer with 3:56.31.
Including Terzis' record-setting performance, eight Redbirds went on to achieve personal-best times. Finishing just behind Terzis in the 500-yard freestyle, Michele Stoeppelman finished with a personal-best time of 5:04.47 and Caitlin Costa`s personal-best with 5:16.90. In the 50-yard freestyle Dinkelman, Jessica McGee and Kelly Healy each achieved personal-bests with times of 25.00, 24.47 and 25.66. Gomberg achieved a personal-best time of 57.93 in her 100-yard backstroke leg of the 400-yard medley. Morgan Buechele had a personal-best in the 200-yard breaststroke with 2:33.45.
In the one-meter diving event Katelyn Prorok finished with 234.90 and took sixth-place out of the 19 competing. Assisting Prorok on one-meter were Brittany Tazzioli, Polly Hirt, Liz Herner and Maureen Doyle.
Diving coach Phil Hoffmann feels the divers performed well overall.
"The divers did a good job adapting to the different format of this meet," Hoffmann said. "The team was very focused on their individual goals that they had set for this meet, and we're ready to perform tomorrow."
The invitational will resume Saturday morning with preliminaries scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. The final-round action will take place at 6 p.m.
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