Oct. 12, 2013
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - -
The Illinois State swimming and diving team finished fourth at the Dennis Stark Relays in South Bend, Ind., Friday evening.
The Redbirds earned 112 points finishing ahead of Cleveland State and Valparaiso, while falling to Auburn, Notre Dame and Indiana. Head swimming coach Steve Paska believes this was a strong meet for the team.
"This meet was a great opportunity for each of the Redbirds to be able to compete in three to five events, and I am impressed with the entire team's performance," said Paska. "The level of competition at this meet and the intensity the swimmers brought provided an exciting environment to be in. Marissa Yontz performed well during the 400-yard freestyle relay, along with entire relay team. They gave an outstanding performance after swimming in three or four events earlier in the meet. Junior Alexis Nash, sophomore Courtney Taylor, freshmen Claire Haggerty and Kristin Verkler also had standout performances at the meet."
The Redbirds had a strong start to the meet as Nash, Yontz, junior Katherine Nelson and senior Erica Halley finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37.14. As the meet continued, Halley, Nelson, Junior Cecilia Holmes and Yontz finished in fourth-place during the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:32.04.
Redbird divers also competed at the relays. Junior Wenting Zhang and sophomore Kelly Sanks earned third place on the 1-meter board with a score of 483.80. Head diving coach Phil Hoffmann is happy with this performance, and believes this was a chance to expose swimmers to a higher level of competition this early in the season.
"Wenting had a solid presentation and her split was less than one point out of first competing against NCAA qualifiers," said Hoffman. "All of the divers performed well at the relays, nevertheless everyone still has things they can improve on. These relays had a high level of competition, but it was an awesome opportunity for underclassman to be exposed to early in the season. All in all we competed well and we will begin preparing on Monday for our next meet in two weeks at Omaha."
The Redbirds will be back on the road to compete in Kirksville, Mo. against the Truman State Bulldogs on Oct. 18 at 6:00 p.m. CT.
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Dennis Stark Relay Results
