NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State swimming and diving team earned a 190.50-108.50 win over visiting Nebraska-Omaha Saturday at Horton Pool in the Redbirds' final home meet of the season.
The home meet was the last in the career of 11 seniors, as well as longtime head coach Steve Paska, who announced his plans to retire following the season last month.
"This feeling is hard to describe," Paska said. "There were definitely some special memories made here in the past 30 years at Horton Pool. It's memorable go out with a win, but I am more pleased with how the girls came back after their last meet and competed today.
"Hat's off to the senior class. They are a special group of girls. Hopefully, this meet was one they will remember."
ISU won 11 of the 16 events Saturday. Seniors Alexis Nash, Cecilia Holmes, Marissa Yontz and Samantha Schuckles were all individual event winners. Nash won the 50-yard butterfly, with a time of 26.58 seconds. In the 1000-yard freestyle, Holmes won with a time of 10:39.01. Yontz won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.75 seconds. In the 50-yard backstroke, Schuckles finished first (27.86).
Rachel Holm finished first in both the 50-yard breaststroke (30.86) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.97). In the 100-yard backstroke, sophomore Rachel Root finished first with a time of 59.30 seconds.
The Redbirds won both relays Saturday. The 200-yard freestyle relay team, comprised of Yontz, Katherine Nelson, Nash and Schuckles, won with a time of 1:37.49. The 200-yard medley relay team of Schuckles, Holm, Nash and Yontz won with a time of 1:47.94.
Two personal-best times were clocked by Kristin Verkler and Alyssa Swanson. Verkler placed third in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:48.97). Swanson's personal-best time was in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.89).
On the diving side, senior Wenting Zhang dominated the boards with wins in both the 1-meter (340.72) and 3-meter (364.95) diving events. Â
"This was definitely a bittersweet meet," said head diving coach Phil Hoffmann. "This was the last time I got to see Wendy dive in a meet at Horton Pool. She has a lot of the season left, so I know there is more to come for her. I thought she had a great last home meet.
"I thought Molly Schatz also had a fantastic meet. Coming back from an injury and illness, I thought her performance was great. I was proud of all of the divers today, putting points on the board for ISU. I am looking forward to these last two meets before conference."
Schatz placed second on the 1-meter board (241.94).
Illinois State's seniors were recognized before Saturday's meet. They included: Kristin Horney, Keely Hunt, Valerie Jones, Emily Langlotz, Allison Soper, Holmes, Nash, Nelson, Schuckles, Yontz and Zhang. Paska was also presented a plaque recognizing his 30-plus years of service to the ISU swimming and diving team.
The Redbirds will travel to the Butler Invitational Sunday, where they will compete at 11 a.m. CST against Southern Illinois, Butler, IUPUI, St. Louis and Xavier.
Event Breakdown
200-yard medley relay: The team of Schuckles, Holm, Nash and Yontz took first … Illinois State's team of Root, Soper, Sarah Thomas and Yvette Kruk claimed second (1:51.56).
1000-yard freestyle: Holmes won the event … Verkler took third (10:48.97) … Jillena Everest claimed fourth (11:05.78).
200-yard freestyle: Laura Paskoff and Courtney Taylor tied for second (1:57.13) … Nelson took fourth (1:58.90).
50-yard backstroke: Schuckles won the event … Karley Licking took second (29.01) … Katelyn Kresal shared third place (29.21).
50-yard breaststroke: Holm touched the wall first … Everest (32.30) and Soper (32.36) claimed second and third, respectively.
100-yard butterfly: Nebraska-Omaha's Jenna Foiles won the event … Thomas took second (1:00.91) … Root was third (1:01.35) … Katie Breger claimed fifth (1:01.70).
50-yard freestyle: Nebraska-Omaha's Natalie Renshaw took first … Yontz came in second (23.70) … Nelson was third (24.98) … Horney took fifth (25.90).
1-meter diving: Zhang won the first of her two events … Schatz took second (241.94) … Kelly Sanks took fourth (217.12).
100-yard freestyle: Yontz topped the field … Nelson finished third (54.13) … Kruk came in fifth (55.88).
100-yard backstroke: Root touched the wall first … Nash was right behind in second place (1:01.80) … Licking took fourth (1:02.44).
100-yard breaststroke: Holm won her second individual event of the day … the Redbirds also claimed the second and third spots, respectively, with Holmes (1:07.55) and Jones (1:09.40).
500-yard freestyle: Nebraska-Omaha's Morgan Stepp was victorious … Verkler took second (5:14.17) … Paskoff (5:22.25) and Maddie Farrell (5:26.33) took fourth and fifth.
50-yard butterfly: Nash finished first ahead of four Nebraska-Omaha swimmers, who finished second through fifth, to claim the remaining points.
3-meter diving: Zhang topped the field … Nebraska-Omaha divers took the rest of the points, finishing second, third and fourth.
200-yard IM: Stepp touched the wall first … Verkler (2:16.16) took second … Holm (2:15.57) was third … Swanson was fifth (2:16.26).
200-yard freestyle relay: The Redbird team of Yontz, Nelson, Nash and Schuckles won … the ISU team of Thomas, Paskoff, Taylor and Holmes took third (1:40.01).
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