The Southern Illinois men and women finished their regular season with dual meet wins against Evansville while celebrating senior day. The men won the meet with a 179-62 score. The women were just as dominant, outscoring Evansville 191-46.
Evansville:
CARBONDALE, Ill. – In the final regular-season meet of the season, the University of Evansville swimming and diving teams fell at Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon.
The Purple Aces women fell by a final of 191-46 while the men dropped their meet by a 179-62 score.
Michaela Kent was the top performer of the day, earning the win in the 50 backstroke with a time of 27.35. She also grabbed a pair of 3rd place efforts in the 25 and 50 free races. Her time in the 25 free was a 16.40 while she checked in with a 24.82 in the 50 free.
In the 50 free, Kaylee Gubricky had a solid 4th place finish with a time of 25.72.
Adrianne Gamester, Jessi Hildebrand, Maja Magnusson and Megan Schremp combined to take third in the 100 free relay as they swam a time of 49.94.
On the men’s side, Ethan O’Rourke had a strong day, taking 4th in the 50 free, swimming a 22.04. Matt Childress was just behind him with a 22.32 to take 5th.
O’Rourke combined with Jared Sutphin, Childress and Everett Plocek to take second in the 200 free relay.
Diving excelled on Saturday as Cory Barnes picked up two victories. In the 1-meter dive, he won with a score of 249.60 while his 3-meter victory was a 223.05. Courtney Coverdale took third place in both dives. In the 1-meter, her score was a 238.72 while she was credited with a 232.50 in the 3-meter.
Next up for the Aces are their conference championships. The women travel to the Missouri Valley Conference championship in Carbondale from February 17-20 while the men head to Ypsilanti, Mich. for the Mid-American Conference championship from March 2-5.
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Southern Illinois:
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Saluki swimming and diving team came away with a pair of big wins on Saturday, with both the men’s and women’s teams topping Evansville on Senior Day. SIU nearly went undefeated, finishing in first place in all but three events, and earning the top-three spots in 15 different races. At the conclusion of the meet, the women earned a 191-46 win while the men came out ahead on top, 179-62.
“Evansville has always put up a good fight. I respect Evansville and I think we have some good, healthy competition with them every year,” SIU head coach Rick Walker said.
On the men’s side, seasoned swimmers and newcomers alike came out successful, with strong performances across the board. In his final home meet as a Saluki senior Andres Saavedra finished with top swims in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races, earning first and second, respectively. He also swam the lead-off leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay that earned first place at 1:24.99, the third-fastest time for the Saluki this season.
SIU newcomer Filippo Dell’Olio earned top finishes in his first home meet as a Saluki, taking first place in the 200-yard IM at 1:55.46 and second in the 100-yard butterfly at 51.73, while also swimming a leg of the first-place 400-yard medley relay.
Freshman Chris Cole and junior Andre Brilhante were especially successful in freestyle races, earning first place in the 1,000 and 500 and 200 and 100, respectively. Other top finishes on the men’s side came from Lucas de Aquino with first in the 100-yard butterfly, Joao Facciotti with a 51.82 first place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, and Bobby Wood who earned first in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Sophomore diver Jack Reilly earned second place in both the one-and three-meter dives. On the women’s side, Kaixuan ‘Sherry’ Zhangwent undefeated on the boards, earning 370.20 points for the one-meter dives and 395.55 for the three-meter dives. Sophomore Rachel Williams followed Zhang, earning second place on both boards with a season-best 274.64 in the three-meter dives and 242.69 in the one-meter dives.
With the women’s MVC Championship meet less than two weeks away, the women’s squad swam an abbreviated meet, swimming half the distances of the men. The Salukis’ freestyle corps put on a clinic, earning the top two spots in all freestyle races with strong finishes by Bryn Handley, Nicole Fuller, McKenna Avery, Kelsie Walker, Mikaela Montgomery, Kristina Ksarjian, Lauren Stockton, Helena Amorimand Riley Schroedter.
Freshman Emma Brazeau finished the meet with a first place finish in the 100-yard Individual Medley, followed by a second place finish in the 50-yard butterfly.
The women’s events concluded with an exciting 100-yard freestyle relay that saw a team completely made of seniors – Morgan Timms,Katy Ovington, Kiley Handley and Helena Amorim win the race at 48.34.
“It’s a sentimental time as their last home dual meet, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and a lot of hours, go into preparing for just a few competitions,” Walker said. “This one means probably the most for many because it signifies a moving on; kind of our graduation.”
Saturday’s meet concludes the Salukis’ regular season competitions as both the men and women prepare for the upcoming conference championship meets. The women will host the MVC Championships beginning Wednesday, Feb. 17, while the men will travel to Ohio in early March for the MAC Championships.
“We have to keep our focus on what we need to do as a team and concentrate on our mentality and our physicality,” Walker said. “This is all leading to one thing and that’s the conference championship, and what get’s them excited is that this is the last step before we get there.”
Swimming news courtesy of Evansville and Southern Illinois Swimming & Diving.