Day two of Zippy Invitational
Dec. 7, 2013
AKRON, Ohio - -
Illinois State swimming and diving maintained first-place in their second day of competition at the Zippy Invitational with a the top score of 1106.5. Diver Wenting Zhang broke the Illinois State school, Akron pool and Zippy Invitational records on the 3-meter board with a score of 349.60. Marissa Yontz also broke the Illinois State school record during her performance in the 200-yard freestyle.
Diving coach Phil Hoffman is proud of the performance he saw today in all of his divers.
"Wenting's six best dives in the finals tonight were the finest dives I have seen her execute in her career at Illinois State," said Hoffman. "I am very happy with the presentation all four of our divers gave tonight. They did fantastic and really helped the team earn points to preserve our lead in the invite."
Amongst the top divers of today's competition, Maggie Kopp earned eleventh-place on the 3-meter board with a total score of 199.10. Following Kopp in the prelims for Illinois State were Kelly Sanks (187.10) earning fifteenth and Molly Schatz (184.80) placing sixteenth.
The Redbird swimmers had a successful night led by the record breaking swimmer, Yontz. She earned first-place (1:50.06) in the 200-yard freestyle breaking the Illinois State school record. Head coach Steve Paska is happy with the effort shown at today's invite by the swimmers.
"I am extremely proud of the entire team's showing today," said Paska. "It is exciting to see all of the student-athletes perform among great competition. All of the teams have been swimming really well and it has been fun to watch and be a part of the 2013-2014 Zippy Invitational."
The Redbirds had two top ten teams in the 200-yard medley relay at the invite today. Sammy Schuckles, Courtney Taylor, Lexi Nash and Erica Halley claimed third place with a time of 1:45.23. Trailing close behind them was Rachel Root, April Livingston, Claire Haggerty and Katherine Nelson placing seventh in the finals (1.47.23). Illinois State also placed in the top ten of the 800-yard freestyle relay. Haggerty, Cecilia Holmes, Nelson and Yontz earned first-place with a final time of 7:34.64. Yvette Kruk, Laura Paskoff, Halley and Katelyn Kresal tied for sixth-place (7:46.62) in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
During the 400-yard IM Holmes earned third-place with a season best in the prelims (4:27.88). Keely Hunt also set a season best with a time of 4:44.63. A number of personal bests in the 400-yard IM were set by Valerie Jones (4:27.99) and Root (4:42.67).
Nash gave a personal best performance in the 100-yard butterfly, swimming 56.63 in the finals placing sixth. Kristin Vekler swam a season best with a final time of 57.40. Following Verkler with a season best was Haggerty with a final time of 58.02.
Kresal earned seventh-place (1:55.33) setting a new season best record during her participation in the 200-yard freestyle. Paskoff (1:55.78) and Kruk (1:55.96) set personal bests during their performances. Next, Taylor placed sixth (1:05.43) and Livingston placed seventh (1:06.41) finishing with new season bests.
The Redbirds will begin the final day of competition at the Zippy invitational with the preliminary rounds at 9 a.m. eastern time and the finals are scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Live results for the Zippy Invitational can be found at http://wagonwheelchallenge.com/swimstats/
Live streaming for the Zippy Invitational can be found at http://www.mac-sports.com/Schools/Akron/LiveStreaming.aspx
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