NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State swimming and diving team will head to South Bend, Indiana, for the Dennis Stark Relays at Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m CST. At the first away meet of the season, ISU will be competing against Notre Dame, Ohio State and Olivet Nazarene.
One of the longest-running meets the Redbirds will compete at this year, 2014 marks the 50th year of the Dennis Stark Relays. Women have been competing at the meet the past 30 years.
The Redbirds will enter the meet fresh off their Red and White Intrasquad Meet where the Red team topped the White team, 131-107. The meet featured stellar performances by Cecilia Holmes, Wenting Zhang and Courtney Taylor, who won two events each. Holmes won the 800-yard freestyle (8:31.32) and the 400-yard reverse IM (4:40.32), and Zhang claimed both the 1-meter diving (315.22) and 3-meter diving (302.32) events for the Red team. Taylor won the 100-yard IM (1:00.67) and the 150-yard breaststroke (1:47.49) for the White team.
Last year at the Dennis Stark Relays, the Redbirds finished fourth with 112 points. Coach Steve Paska is excited for his team to demonstrate all the hard work they have put in over the past eight weeks.
"Any relay meet this early in the season is a tremendous opportunity to witness a number of swimmers compete," Paska said. "This weekend will allow the coaching staff to measure where the swimmers are at this point of the season, as well as answer questions to help determine lineups for Truman State (Oct. 17) and Illinois and Southern Illinois (Nov. 1)."
The diving format Friday will pair divers from each school into teams of two and Illinois State will field two of the seven pairs competing. Last year, Zhang and junior Kelly Sanks finished third with a score of 483.80 in the 1-meter event. Head diving coach Phil Hoffmann is excited to expose his divers to a high level of competition.
"The format of this meet is interesting and will keep us training, while also competing," Hoffmann said. "The University of Notre Dame is a good start, as well as the intrasquad meet last weekend. I am excited for this meet every year."
Live results will be available at http://www.und.com/livestats/m-swim/101014/index.htm.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
