Jan. 27, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State's freshman swimmer Danielle Schumacher was named the Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer of the Week Wednesday. Schumacher was honored by the league office after achieving two personal-best times and a first- and second-place finish against Big Ten rival Illinois over the weekend.
Schumacher added more momentum to her already exceptional season, as she took first place in the 1000-yard freestyle with a personal-best time of 10:30.40, finishing five seconds ahead of the field. In the 500-yard freestyle Schumacher finished in second place just .39 seconds behind first place with another personal-best time of 5:05.18. The Redbird freshman topped off the day's meet with a season-best time of 2:15.61 in the 200-yard butterfly.
Head coach Steve Paska feels Schumacher's confidence is building with her momentum.
"Schumacher has a great attitude going into every meet," Paska said. "She is an intense competitor and not only wants to swim her best in every event that she competes in, but win each event as well. Through the variety of events that Schumacher swims in, she has learned at a fast pace what her race strategy is and is becoming more confident with each race."
Along with Schumacher's swimming accolades this season, the freshman swimmer has also maintained a 4.0 grade-point average (GPA) within the actuarial science major.
Paska looks forward to Schumacher's performance Saturday against Wisconsin-Green Bay at home.
"The momentum and confidence that Schumacher has built up in the last few meets will definitely help her against the quality competition we're facing this weekend," Paska said. "Needless to say, I am excited to see how she performs in the middle-distance and distance events on Saturday."
Schumacher and team mates hit the water at 11 a.m. Saturday in Horton Pool on Illinois State's campus. The dual-meet against the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix will be the last home meet of the season and the team will honor its seniors prior to the meet.
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