UIC Diving Invite

The women’s diving team traveled to the University of Illinois-Chicago on Saturday to compete in the UIC Diving Invitational.

The seven-time Missouri Valley Conference diver of the week, Wenting Zhang, took first place in both the one-meter and three-meter boards. She scored a 319.80 on the one-meter dive, breaking the Flames Natatorium pool record, previously held by Olympian Nancilea Underwood.

Zhang scored a 351.15 in the three-meter board, which broke the ISU record that she previously held.

“Wenting’s performance was fantastic at this invitational. There were a couple of dives in each list that were the best I have ever seen her do,” head diving coach Phil Hoffmann said.

Also in the one-meter dive, senior Madicyn Prouty and freshman Kaitlyn Neiheisel came in third (250.75) and fourth place (246.60), respectively.

“Overall, I was happy with every diver’s performance at this invitational. We faced some solid competition [Saturday], but our divers competed well,” Hoffmann said.

Butler Invitational

In their final meet before the MVC Conference Championship, the Redbirds came out victorious at the Butler Invitational. The ’Birds finished with a final score of 947 defeating Xavier (599), Indiana University-Purdue University (573) and Butler (289).

“We had a number of swimmers step up and perform this weekend. The depth of this program showed [Sunday] as a number of student-ath
letes finished in the top-eight during multiple events,” head swimming coach Steve Paska said.

Sophomore Marissa Yontz finished in first place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.10. Yontz also finished in second place in the 50-yard freestyle (24.54) and third place in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.18).

Tori Alland took first in the 500-yard freestyle (5:07.15) and second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.89).

Senior Jeanette Nolte finished her final regular season meet with a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.29) and second place in the 100-yard butterfly (58.09).

“Today was a solid performance by the whole team. As we are beginning our preparation for the conference championship, the coaching staff will begin to determine the lineup for the conference meet,” Paska said.

On the diving side, Zhang took first place in both the one-meter (316.75) and three-meter boards (342.20). On the three-meter board, Neiheisel scored a 245.55, a season-best for her.

 “It was a great end to a long weekend, but I think the student-athletes stood up to the challenge,” Hoffmann said.