Meet of the Week: Southern Illinois Dominates Drury, 146-95 Women/137-101 Men

By Erin Greene

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri, October 21. IN the premier weekend of the SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Meet of the Week series, Southern Illinois overtook Drury University's men and women to sweep the meet at the Breech pool. The Division I Salukis dominated the women's side, 146-95, as well as the men's, 137-101. The Panthers, however, did not go down without a fight. Senior Cara Fidel captured three individual event wins, while junior diver Andrew Coup won both springboard events.

"Obviously we were not really happy with the end result," Brian Reynolds, Drury head swimming coach, said. "But, we are not in full capacity right now. We are still waiting on a kid to be cleared and some more will join us next semester. So, we are not really deep. We lost some close races, but we raced really well. From an overall standpoint we are as good as we should be at this point in the season."

The Drury teams opened the meet on a promising note, winning the 400-yard individual medley on both sides. Stopping the clock first on the women's side was Janelle Slattery, Megan Chambers, Mariana De Oliveira and Eunate Garro in a time of 3:57.38. Their male counterparts, Ethan Weiss, Artem Sloudnov, Klye Kearbey and Ismeal Ortiz, followed suit, claiming the win in 3:29.54.

Senior Panther Cara Fidel expanded their lead when she touched the wall 11 seconds ahead of her next competitor in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:34.25). Lisa Jaquez of SIU finished the distance event second in 10:43.62, followed closely by Fadel's teammate, Sharon Peppard (10:44.67).

In a winning streak for the home contenders, sophomore Mitch Snyder sailed into first place by 13 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:47.04). Southern Indiana swimmer, Alex Marrucho was the runner-up with 10:00.43. Joining his teammate at the wall, Grant Campbell of DU finished in 10:06.89.

In a turn of events, SIU women swept the first three places in the 200-yard freestyle. Isabel Madeira captured the gold in 1:54.41. Teammates Kelly Dvorak and Tovah Gasaparovich followed, with the respective times of 1:57.42 and 1:59.64.

Saluki swimmer Vinicius Waked picked up on the winning trend, breaking a Breech pool record for the win in the event (1:39.67). Closely behind Waked, Yiwen Huang of DU, touched second in 1:40.24. Another Saluki, Antonio Santoro, rounded out the Top 3 with 1:41.08.

The SIU women continued to pick up steam, capturing the first two places in the 50-yard freestyle. Julie Ju and Therese claimed the spots in 23.98 and 24.39, respectively. Behind them was Drury senior, Mariana De Loviveira.

Picking up the Top 2 spots in the event for the men were SIU swimmers Stephan Ackerman (20.86) and Dennis Hedo (21.01). Drury picked up the No. 3 spot with Ismeal Ortiz coming in with 21.48.

In the women's 200-yard IM, Megan Chambers (2:11.28) edged out Southern Illinois swimmer, Danielle Quarry (2:11.68), for the win. Quarry's teammate, Nora Bunford, swam to third-place with 2:13.60.

On the men's side, Drury swimmer Tomas Kuzvard (1:53.12) touched out opposing team member, Gareth McGee (1:53.27), for the win. Southern Illinois took third place when Tim Silkaitis finished in 1:57.47.

Southern Illinois divers claimed the first and third-place finishes on the 1-meter with the respective finishes Christina Curtancanu and Emily Gable. Sandwiched between them was Drury diver, Colleen Boerner.

Picking up his first of two wins was Panther diver Andrew Coup on the 1-meter. Southern Illinois claimed the next two positions with Andy Floor and Benjamin Palacios.

Cara Fidel claimed her second victory of the day in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:06.86. SIU swimmers, Rachel Winius and Abby Blank, took the next two spots with the respective times of 2:09.60 and 2:11.14.

In the men's event, Antonio Santoro picked up another win for SIU with his 1:54.33. Charles Ludeke of Drury grabbed second place (1:59.13) while Saluki Ivan Zgomba took third in 1:59.27.

Julie Ju picked up another event title with her win in the 100-yard freestyle (51.57) with another Breech Pool record. Teammate, Isabel Madeira won the silver in the sprint event (52.85) while DU's Eunate Garro got the bronze with 52.90.

Adding yet another victory for the Saluki's, Dennis Hodo touched the wall first in 45.78. Yiwen Huang of Drury followed him with 46.02. Stephan Ackerman posted more points for SIU with a third-place finish (46.32).

Saluki swimmer Kelly Dvorak and Panther Janelle Slattery battled for the win in the 200-yard backstroke. Dvorak stopped the clock first in 2:06.16 while Slattery touched in at 2:06.30. Following the two women was Saluki Danielle Quarry with 2:11.47.

In the men's event, SIU swept the first two places with Gareth McGee (1:50.95) and Alex Marrucho (1:51.62) touching ahead of the heat. Finishing third for DU was Tomas Kuzvard with 1:52.10.

Fidel claimed her third win for the day in the 500-yard freestyle with 5:05.03. Her teammate Sharon Peppard touched third (5:19.06) behind Saluki Lisa Jaquez (5:19.06).

In a clear lead, Vinicius Waked won the distance event in 4:36.14. Santoro was the closest swimmer to his teammate, coming in at 4:44.14. Mitch Snyder put points on the board for Drury with his third-place time of 4:46.75.

Christina Curtaneanu claimed her second win for the night on the 3-meter springboard with a score of 266.18. Emily Gable finished behind her teammate (244.43), winning the silver, while Drury diver Colleen Boemer grabbed the third-place spot with a score of 218.78.

In the final individual event of the day, Nora Bunford of Southern Illinois touched first with a time of 2:25.21 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Drury swimmers swept the next two spots. Chambers finished the event in 2:26.36, while teammate Kristie Rose finished third in 2:30.51.

On the men's side, Drury took the win in the event when Artem Sloudnov stoped the clock in 2:09.64. Southern Illinois picked up the next two spots with Jameson Kuper touching in at 2:11.32 and Christopher Gaffney hitting the wall third in 2:19.62.

In a clear lead, the Saluki women capped off the meet with a win in 400-yard freestyle relay (3:31.46) with quartet Isabel Madeira, Danielle Quarry, Therese Matsson and Julie Ju. The Drury A-team stopped the clock next (3:42.08), while Southern Illinois B-team claimed the third place with a time of 3:53.58.

The Saluki men clenched the meet with their winning relay in the event. On the first-place relay (3:03.89) was Stephan Ackerman, Vinicius Waked, Gareth McGee and Dennis Hedo. Swimming to the second-place spot was the Drury squad finishing in 3:07.52. Southern Illinois finished the meet when their third-place relay stopped the clock at 3:18.40.

Southern Illinois at Drury, October 21, 2006 1 p.m.

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