Oct. 7, 2010
NORMAL, Ill -
The Illinois State swimming and diving team will be competing in the 27th annual Dennis Stark Relays this Friday, October 8, along with Valparaiso, Oakland and Notre Dame. The meet will be held at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind and is set to begin at 5 p.m. E.T. The competition is comprised of all relay events in both swimming and diving.
ISU head coach Steve Paska is looking forward to the relay setup of this weekend's meet.
"The relay format provides the coaches with an outstanding evaluation tool of where we are at this stage in the season as the swimmers compete in multiple events," Paska said. "It is unique in the sense that the meet is all sprint oriented events, with the exception of the 1000-yard relay."
Last weekend, the Redbirds competed as a team for the first time at the Red/White intrasquad meet. The team was split into two teams and competed against each other in the various events.
"Our first competition at last weekend's Red/White meet gave the athletes an indication of where they are in the beginning stages of the season and was their first experience of competition," Paska said. "It was a huge success and we need to now make the transition of performing more sprint events this weekend at Notre Dame."
Diving coach Phil Hoffmann views the diving relays as a way to set up the divers for the season.
"I think this is good for the athletes to see both strengths and weaknesses that we can build on throughout the season," Hoffmann said. "They are able to see what each of them has to offer as individuals but how they can help the team."
The diving events are setup in relay format where two divers complete six dives each on the 1-meter boards and earn a combined twelve dive score. For the 3-meter dives, two divers will each perform three dives for a full six dive score.
"The Notre Dame relays are about the team aspect for diving and I am looking to see how they compete in pairs," Hoffmann said.
The meet setup allows athletes to compete in an unlimited number of events throughout the competition.
"It is important time of the season to determine what swimmers are competitive and racing the best as we prepare for two upcoming dual meets," Paska said. "With the quality depth that our program has, this relay format will produce very competitive results."
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