Sept. 25, 2010
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Illinois State swim team finished up their weekend of distance swimming at the 5k Open Water Event Saturday in Carbondale, Ill. The Redbirds had nine athletes compete and the top finishers placed second and third against Missouri Valley Conference teams Southern Illinois and Evansville.
Head coach Steve Paska was pleased with the weekend's results and finishes.
"The athletes were very impressive once again," Paska said. "They swam the 1650-yard freestyle Friday night and the 5K Saturday morning, showing really great back-to-back performances this weekend."
Sophomores Danielle Schumacher and Tori Alland placed second and third in the 5000-meter open water. Schumacher finished with a time of 1:00:51.32 and Alland at 1:01:00.11. Alland and Schumacher also placed second and third overall in the 1650-yard freestyle Friday night.
"Danielle and Tori finished closely together and had outstanding swims in both the 1650-yard and in the 5K open water," Paska said. "This shows the depth we have in the distance events and they will be events we rely heavily on in the meets this season leading up to the MVC Championship"
The open water event is a different experience for the athletes than they are usually exposed to. Paska looked at this weekend's meets as an advantage to the team's training.
"The open water swim is a totally different type of competition but I think it will help the athletes with their preparation for the season," Paska said. "They adapted really well to the new situation of open water swimming and they will remember this experience for a long time."
The Redbirds will continue their season at the Red/White intrasquad meet October 1st at Horton Pool. The meet is set to begin at 7 p.m. and will be the first home meet of the season for the Illinois State swimming and diving team.
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SIU Weekend Results 
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