Illinois State University sports news

Swim team takes second

The Illinois State women's swim team took second in a quadrangular meet Saturday at St. Peters, Mo. St. Louis scored 132 points, while the Redbirds had 108.

Christine Steinbach, Jamie Haseman, Catharine Danenhower and Lisa Hanrahan led the Redbirds.

Both Steinbach and Haseman swam in the 200 and 500 freestyle races. Steinbach set a season best in the 200 freestyle (1:57.2) and 500 freestyle (5:11.85), while Haseman did the same (1:57.4 in 200, 5:11.79 in 500).

Also setting season bests were Danenhower in the 100 backstroke (1:01.95) and Hanrahan in the 100 butterfly (1:00.47).

"Today was a very competitive setting," ISU coach Steve Paska said. "We are trying to swim with consistency and get faster each and every week. I think we definitely took a big step this weekend."

Tennis team falters

No ISU tennis players were able to make it to day four of the ITA Central Region Championship at Tulsa, Okla.

The Redbirds' Alfredo Lagarda defeated Southern Illinois' Karl Nilsson 6-1, 6-0 in the singles consolation round of 16 but forfeited his next match against Tulsa's Olof Sjolund because it interfered with Lagarda's doubles match with Yohann Nograbat.

Lagarda and Nograbat beat Arkansas-Little Rock's Dinko Halachev and Edson Abrao 8-2 in the round of 12 before losing to Tulsa's Arnau Brugues and Federico Soriano, 8-3.

"Alfredo Lagarda really played well in both singles and doubles today," said ISU coach Greg Kennett.

ISU's Luka Marinkovic lost to Nathan Byrnes of Oklahoma State 6-1, 6-4 in singles consolation. Oklahoma's Ryan Thomas and Ondrej Kacmer beat Marinkovic and Daniel Tobar in doubles, 8-5.

"We were placed in tough draws and competed with top players early in the tournament," said Kennett. "We have a lot of work to do to get ready for this spring."