Iowa City, Iowa—Indiana State swimming and diving had yet another strong day of competition on day three of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.
After going four for four with school records on day two, the Sycamores main goal was to continue this momentum into today's preliminaries and finals.
ISU came off the blocks hot right away on day three setting four new individual event school records in the morning and three in the evening, along with a new relay record.
"Today we were looking forward to moving day meaning as we go through this day there is more separation between the teams. We have been getting better as we go just as we build more confidence get used to the meet and the daily set up, as well as everything that comes with it," said head coach
Matt Leach.
The morning preliminaries started off with the 400 IM.
Katherine Minatra,
Elisabeth Peskin and
Blanca Saez-Illobre all swam strong races with Minatra and Peskin qualifying for the C final. Saez-Illbore added a new school record and qualified for the A final.
Following the 400 IM was the 100 butterfly which included three more Sycamores,
Mykenzie Kostka,
Jacquie Price and
Courtney Skelley. Kostka swam a strong 58.50 dropping below the one minute mark for the first time this season. Skelley added another strong swim to the event with Price finishing it off with a new school record of 56.32 placing her in the A final for the evening heats.
Cierra Campbell came up strong with a 1:54.78 in the 200 freestyle qualifying for the evening finals as well.
Emily Ratliff and
Taylor Christie followed with the 100 breaststroke.
Ratliff swam an in season best and set a new school record with a time of 1:07.23 giving her a spot in the evening finals.
The 100 backstroke was the final event of the morning preliminaries which included
Alex Malmborg,
Tessa Muzzy,
Allie Engstrom,
Emily Boomershine, and
Kendall Hansen. Engstrom, Boomershine, and Hansen all qualified for the evening finals with Hansen adding a new ISU school record.
After a few hours of rest the all freshmen squad returned to the pool for the evening finals. Yet again the energy was high as the Sycamores were ready to further improve their times.
For the evening finals the Sycamores swam the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, and 400 medley relay.
"As we came into tonight we were trying to do what we did last night by resetting all of our school records again. We wanted to go six for six and we came pretty close with three new school records and another record in the relay," said Leach.
With Peskin, Minatra, and Saez-Illobre all qualifying for finals the energy was high starting the night with the 400 IM. Minatra swam an in season best with a 4:39.08 and Peskin added yet another strong swim. Saez-Illobre became the first Sycamore to compete in an A final and placed fifth over setting a record with a 4:22.54.
The 100 butterfly followed with all three preliminary swimmers qualifying yet again. Kostka swam hard and Skelley contributed a 58.10. Price became the second member of the squad to compete in an A final placing seventh with a time of 55.80 which was also a new school record.
Campbell dropped her time from the morning preliminaries in the 200 freestyle with a 1:54.61. Ratliff followed with a solid showing in the 100 breaststroke.
For the final individual event of the night Engstrom, Boomershine and Hansen all came out hot for the Sycamores. Engstrom swam a good race after qualifying for the finals in a swim off earlier in the evening. Boomershine followed with a 58.84 and Hansen added another ISU school record with a 57.94 defeating the record she had previously set in the morning preliminaries.
The 400 medley relay was the final event of day three. The relay team of Hansen, Saez-Illobre, Price and
Alex Malmborg absolutely crushed the previous school record by almost 13 seconds.
Overall the Sycamores continued to improve on day three and kept the energy high throughout the multiple events.
"We feel that the more this meet continues to progress the better we get and the more confidence we get. Hopefully tomorrow we can come in the morning and make sure we're ready to go and give ourselves the best point potential for tomorrow night."
Indiana State is back in the pool tomorrow for the final day of the MVC Championships.
Go Sycamores!
