Northern Iowa, St. Louis vs. Illinois State

NORMAL, Illinois, October 10. THE Illinois State swimming and diving team dominated competition Friday at Horton pool as the Redbirds came in first place against St. Louis University (174-115) and Northern Iowa (176-94) shattering a 22-year old pool record, multiple personal-best times and a season-best medley relay time. Freshman Lauren Terzis broke the Illinois State Horton pool 1000-yard freestyle record with a time of 10:21.42, recorded a first-place finish, personal-best time, and set the momentum for the rest of the meet.

This was the first competition in Horton Pool for Terzis, and she set a momentous start by achieving a new pool record in the 1000-yard freestyle, the event was the first of three first-place finishes for the freshman. Terzis went on to finish first in the 100- and 500-yard freestyle events with times of 53.93 and 5:04.41 respectively.

Terzis provided tremendous momentum for the rest of the meet. Head coach Steve Paska was very proud of Terzis' performance.

"It was the first time Lauren Terzis swam the 1000-yard freestyle in competition," Paska said. "What a debut Terzis gave by setting the pool record. She's a diligent worker in practice and she always talks about swimming fast. Today she swam very well and I believe winning that event and setting a pool record just gave an added spark to the team. The team was able to use that momentum throughout the duration of the meet."

Momentum carried on as four personal-best times were broken by the Redbirds. Senior captain Allison Fishbein broke her personal-best time in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time 2:27.46 and placed first in the event. Freshman Lauren Boyd recorded a personal-best time and a third-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.64 before she went on to a first-place finish and a personal-best time in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall at a time of 24.66. Following the momentum, freshman Jessica McGee recorded a personal-best time in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.47.

"We were able to get momentum on our side," Paska said. "I was just so impressed with how the entire team performed. The way they raced and competed, they were focused. I'm very proud of how we swam and dove with consistency throughout the entire meet."

Adding to the accomplishments of the Redbirds, many first-place finishes were achieved. Freshman Sarah Coghlin, juniors Lindsay Dinkelman and Katelyn Prorok, and sophomores Amy Schaefer and Molly Gomberg helped lead the team to victory recording first-place finishes in their respective events. Coghlin swam the 200-yard freestyle with a first-place finish and a time of 1:56.93. Gomberg followed suit in the next event finishing the 100-yard backstroke with a first-place time of 1:00.45. Dinkelman swam the 100-yard breaststroke and touched the wall with a time of 1:08.47. Recording two first-place finishes, Schaefer swam the 200- and 100-yard butterfly events with times of 2:08.74 and 59.82 respectively. Prorok led the Redbird divers with a first-place finish on the one-meter board with a score of 252.37.

The Redbird divers were able to keep the momentum going as Prorok led the team on the diving board. Prorok recorded a first-place finish on the one-meter board (252.37) and second-place finish on the three-meter board (253.50). Freshman Polly Hirt and Brittany Tazzioli both had top finishes on the one-meter board with scores of 224.61 and 216.59 respectively.

Head diving coach Phil Hoffmann was very happy about the performance of the divers.

"Once again we were led by Katelyn Prorok," Hoffmann said. "Her one-meter score just missed the qualifying score for NCAA Zones, and that is a good guide for where she is in the season. We were also led by our two freshmen, Polly Hirt and Brittany Tazzioli who both had a great meet on the one-meter board."

Prorok lead the three-meter board with a second-place finish and a score of 253.50. Junior Liza Perrino, who debuted a new dive, recorded a third-place finish with a score of 235.65.

"The three-meter was a good contest," Hoffmann said. "St. Louis had a lot of solid divers on both boards and the three-mete and we were able to really pull through. Katelyn and Liza both had great performances on the diving board."

The Redbirds will continue competition Oct. 17 at 6 p.m at Western Illinois.

Special thanks to Illinois State for contributing this report.

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