Plenty of Pool Records as Saint Louis Swimming Sweeps Western Illinois

Photo Courtesy: Saint Louis University Athletics

MACOMB, Illinois, October 11. Plenty of pool records fell with Saint Louis Swimming downing Western Illinois. SLU’s men won 202-94, while the women took a 240-56 victory.

Saint Louis Press Release

Saint Louis swimming and diving captured seven Western Illinois Pool records en route to a pair of wins over the Leathernecks. The men’s team won 202-94 while the women’s squad won 240-56.

On the women’s side, the 200-yard medley relay quad of Morgan Peterson, Melanie Battaglia, JaLynn Gieseke and Maggie Sheean broke the pool record with a time of 1:49.28. The previous record was set in 1988 by Southern Illinois. Freshman Riley Kirby broke the 100-yard backstroke record with a time of 58.80, topping a WIU record set in 1995. Sheean also topped the previous pool record with her time of 59.44.

For the men’s team, the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Zack Billingsley, Pay May, Dustin Anderson and Brendan Hulseman turned in a time of of 1:24.88 to break a four-year pool record. The 200-yard medley relay team of Shane Cano, Stephen Hansen, Ryan McCoy and Billingsley touched the wall at 1:34.53, breaking an 11-year pool record. McCoy also broke two individual pool records in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:41.90 and 500-yard freestyle at 4:38.32, both records set in 1978 by Illinois State. Brendan Hulseman had a time of 45.01 in the 100-yard freestyle, winning the event by three seconds and besting the previous record of 46.86 by nearly two seconds. Hulseman also topped the pool record in the 100-yard fly with a time of 51.04, but finished second in the event.

Check out Brendan Hulseman on the Morning Swim Show

Next up for the Billikens are a pair of home meets on Oct. 17 & 18 at the Simon Rec Center. Saint Louis hosts UALR and Maryville in a women’s only meet on Oct. 17, and UALR and Lincoln College on Oct. 18 for both the men and women.

Western Illinois Press Release

Sophomore Chris Neaveill broke his own Brophy Hall Pool record on Friday (Oct. 10) as both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams faced Saint Louis.

“We definitely swam faster than we did this time last year, which is the nice thing with seeing a team roughly at the same time every year at the same facility and the same meet format,” said head coach Greg Naumann. “It gives us an easy way to see if we’re doing the right things in practice. We need to start amping up our training a little bit more. We’re losing a little bit of energy as we hit the back end of the longer races and bouncing back from the first couple of races to the third and fourth races. I’m not overly concerned, but it’s always big picture. I’m always looking at how we’ll be able to perform at the end of the year.”

Neaveill shaved 0.74 seconds off his previous record time, winning the 100 yard butterfly in 50.82 seconds. Neaveill also swam the first leg of the 200 medley relay which finished second. JD Furr, Dylon Rykosky and Shawn Farrar also represented Western in the event.

Rykosky followed that performance, edging out teammate Kevin Arakaki in the 50 yard backstroke. Rykosky and Arakaki finished second and third, respectively. Furr finished just behind Zack Billingsley in the 100 yard breaststroke for second place.

Matt Abercrombie continued his strong start to the 2014-15 season with a second place finish in the 1000 yard freestyle. Abercrombie also finished second in the 500 yard freestyle, followed by Deven Ries.

Leatherneck divers had dominant performances against the Billikens. Melanie Pearson and Julia Rasmussen finished first and third respectively in the 1-meter dive. Doug Ogilvie and Viktor Rusenas took the top two spots in the men’s 1-meter. Rusenas was also the highest scorer in the men’s 3-meter.

In the pool, Rasmussen began her quest to break the program’s 100 yard freestyle record with a second place time of 54.33.

Western Illinois continues the fall schedule on Saturday (Oct. 18) in Kirksville, Mo. against Truman State. The meet is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.

Results: Saint Louis vs. Western Illinois

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