MIAMI – The Illinois State swimming and diving team ended their weekend of competition in Florida with a dual loss against at Miami on Saturday. The Hurricanes won the dual by a score of 164-135.
Illinois State junior swimmer Courtney Taylor was back in great form after yesterday's meet at Florida International, winning all three of her individual events on Saturday: the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.10), the 200-yard breaststroke (2:20.98) and the 200-yard IM (2:08.79). Taylor's 100-yard breaststroke time was a season best.
Marissa Yontz won the 100-yard freestyle (52.02) and 200-yard freestyle (1:51.97). Her time in the 200-yard freestyle was a season best.
Head coach Steve Paska was proud of how well his team performed this weekend.
"Today was a very close meet," Paska said. "I am impressed with how well the team competed on back-to-back days, as there wasn't much time to recover. I believe this weekend of competition reflected a tremendous amount of resiliency and focus.
"We might have come up on the short end of the stick of two losses, but I believe it will benefit the team for the meets to come at the end of the fall semester, as well at the conference meet next semester."
Season bests were made by Samantha Schuckles, Alexis Nash, Katherine Nelson and Taylor in the 200-yard medley relay (1:46.73), as well as Kristin Verkler, Laura Paskoff, Yontz and Nelson in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:30.90). Also turning in season-best performances were: Nash in the 100-yard butterfly (57.72), Verkler in the 500-yard freestyle (5:13.16), Cecilia Holmes in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:26.33), Yvette Kruk in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:51.50) and Karley Licking in the 200-yard backstroke (2:08.56).
Senior diver Wenting Zhang finished second in the 3-meter competition with a score of (351.38), and placed third in the 1-meter competition (294.48).
Diving coach Phil Hoffmann was pleased with how his divers performed.
"I am very proud of how the divers did this weekend," Hoffmann said. "It was a great experience to dive against this tough competition in an outdoor environment. After this weekend, we have learned what we need to work on in order to move forward. I am excited to see the progress we make in the coming weeks."
The Redbirds are continuing competition on the road Saturday, Nov. 15 at Northern Iowa. That meet is set to begin at 2 p.m.
Event Breakdown
200-yard medley relay: The Miami team of Heather Arseth, Amy Wiley, My Fridell and Angela Algee finished in first place (1:44.05) … Illinois State's Rachel Holm, Sarah Thomas, Licking and Paskoff finished third (1:52.93).
1000-yard freestyle: Miami's Cameron Davis finished first (10:27.41) … Kruk placed second (10:51.50) … ISU's Jillena Everest finished in third (10:53.37).
200-yard freestyle: Miami's Julie Suarez finished in second (1:52.59) … Holmes placed third (1:56.44).
100-yard backstroke: Arseth won the event (55:60) … ISU's Rachel Root finished in second (59.71) … Licking placed third (1:00.50).
100-yard breaststroke: Miami's Julia Schippert finished in second (1:05.57) … Wiley placed third (1:05.84).
200-yard butterfly: Algee won the event (2:05.19) … Verkler finished second (2:08.62) … Nash placed third (2:10.89).
50-yard freestyle: Arseth won the event (24.16) … Yontz finished in seond (24.38) … Miami's Repman placed third (24.78).
1-meter diving: Miami's Thea Vock won the event (340.05).
100-yard freestyle: Fridell finished in second (52.40) … Nelson placed third (53.44).
200-yard backstroke: Suarez won the event (2:06.37) … Root finished second (2:08.39) … Licking placed third (2:08.56).
200-yard breaststroke: Schippert finished in second (2:23.32) … Wiley placed third (2:24.31).
500-yard freestyle: Davis won the event (5:04.87) … Verkler finished in second (5:13.16) … Paskoff placed third (5:16.30)
100-yard butterfly: Fridell won the event (55.86) … Algee placed in second (56.40) … Nash placed third (57.72).
3-meter diving: Cousineau won the event (351.45) … Vock finished third (345.30).
200-yard IM: Suarez finished in second (2:10.98) … Holmes placed third (2:12.74).
400-yard freestyle relay: Miami's team of Fridell, Wiley, Algee and Arseth won the event (3:28.10) … Illinois State's team of Yontz, Verkler, Paskoff and Nelson finished in second (3:30.90).
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