Illinois State Splits Double Dual Versus Western Illinois, Iowa State

MACOMB, Illinois, November 3. AFTER a double-dual meet against Western Illinois and Iowa State Friday evening in Macomb, Ill., the Illinois State swimmers and divers now hold a 2-2 dual-meet record. Illinois State was able to beat the host of the meet, Western Illinois (148-84), but fell to Iowa State (139-93). Swimmers Jennifer Klicka, Tiffany Rentner and Valerie Zaleski each set new season-best times in their respected events, while diver Katie Janonis also had a season high score on the diving board.

After competing for six-straight weekends, head coach Steve Paska knew this meet would be difficult, but was satisfied with the outcome.

"While competing for six-straight weeks isn't an excuse for tonight's results, I do think it played a factor," said Paska. "But, I was very proud of how the swimmers competed. This meet was definitely a decent way to end a six-week stretch of competition."

Senior captain Klicka not only had a season best race in both the 1000-yard freestyle (10:36.44) and the 200 backstroke (2:13.97), the times were also personal-bests. Rentner also set a personal-best time by finishing the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:18.66. Junior swimmer Zaleski swam a season best 55.16 in the 100 freestyle. Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer of the Week Kyle Pullman once again edged out the competition, winning the 50-yard freestyle (25.41), while sophomore Rebekah Layman won the 200 IM (2:13.78).

"There were some very close races tonight," Paska said. "I was very impressed with Klicka's performances tonight, and Layman also had a solid race in the 200 IM. A lot of good things have happened to us over the past six-weeks. We've learned from each meet and will now make some corrections before we head to the Akron Invitational in December."

Making a splash at the competition were the Redbird divers, who took second through sixth places in the 1-Meter competition. With a score of 231.75, Janonis was able to finish in second-place on the 1-meter board and also set a new season high score. Diving coach Alison Cipri was ecstatic with the diving results.

"The divers did excellent," said Cipri. "Their attitudes in the pool during practice this week was awesome. They really gave it their all tonight."

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x