Sept. 23, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State swimming team will begin its season this weekend at Southern Illinois, with the Saluki Miler Invitational and 5K Open Water. The Saluki Miler Invite will begin Friday at 6 p.m. and consist of a 1650-yard freestyle event. On Saturday, the Redbirds will compete in the 5K Open Water Invite at Little Grassy Lake in Carbondale, Ill. at 9 a.m.
Head coach Steve Paska is looking forward to seeing where the distance swimmers are this early in the season. "Our athletes have been training exceptionally well and I see them challenge each other in practice every day," Paska said. "This weekend is going to let the team know where they are at this stage in the season."
The Redbirds will be sending nine swimmers to compete in the weekend's events. Seniors Ashley Bachler, Lauren Terzis, Amy Schaefer, and Christine Byron will be leading the team in the distance events. Junior Michelle Stoeppelman, sophomores Tori Alland, Danielle Schumacher and Erica Woolbright, and freshman Erica Halley will also be representing Illinois State. Many of the swimmers competing this weekend will be swimming the distance events for the Redbirds during 2010-11 season.
"This is one of the few times this season that we will compete in 1650-yard freestyle event, until we head to Zippy Invitational at Akron in December," Paska said. "This weekend is the first step in what is going to be a challenging road to meet our fall semester goals, with both our dual meets at the Zippy Invitational."
This is the second year that Southern Illinois has hosted the distance meets. Missouri Conference members Missouri State and Evansville will also be competing this weekend, alongside the Redbirds and Salukis.
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