CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Illinois State swimming and diving team finished its first day at the 2016 Swimming and Diving Missouri Valley Conference Championships, held at Southern Illinois, in fourth place.
The 200-yard medley relay team consisting of Rachel Root, Rachel Holm, Katie Breger and Sarah Thomas earned a fourth-place finish with a speedy time of 1:43.01 seconds, a whole second faster than their fastest time this season. The difference between first and fourth place was less than a second.
Racing to a fifth-place finish, the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Redbirds Savannah Rubocki, Kristin Verkler, Courtney Taylor and Laura Paskoff swam a new season best time (7:32.63). The team clocked in a time 11 seconds faster than what they had previously swam all season.
Illinois State head swimming coach Scott Cameron felt Wednesday's swims were a great start to the MVC Championships for the Redbirds.
"There is a lot for us to build off of," said Cameron. "I feel that we are set up in a good position for the rest of the meet."
Redbird Diving did not compete Wednesday.
The MVC Championships will resume Thursday at 11 a.m.
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