Southern Illinois Men Top Miami University, 132-111

CARBONDALE, Illinois, October 13. THE Southern Illinois University men's swimming and diving team topped Miami University 132-111 Saturday afternoon at the SIU Student recreation center pool and improved to 2-0 on the season.

The Salukis finished first in 10 out of 13 events and broke away from a one-point lead after the third event to earn their second win of the season.

"This was a great competition for us," said head coach Rick Walker. "Miami is a tough program and have finished higher than us in the past, so this was certainly a very nice win."

Olivia Watson, daughter of SIU assistant basketball coach Rodney Watson was the special assitant coach for the meet.

"We've had many special assistant coaches, but none finer than Olivia," said Walker. "We were honored to have her join us."

SIU opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay with Alex Marrucho, Jameson Kuper, Stephan Ackerman and Dennis Hedo clocking in a 3:28:32 to put the Salukis up, 11-6.

After the RedHawks took the top three spots in the 1000-yard freestyle, Antonio Santoro and Tim Silkaitis placed first and third in the 200-yard freestyle to give SIU a one-point lead, 28-27.

The Salukis started to break away from Miami with a sweep of the top three spots in the 200-yard intermediate, however the RedHawks took first through third in 1-meter diving to cut the SIU lead down to 58-54.

SIU took control of the meet with a first place finish in the final six events to claim the victory. Santoro placed first in the 200-yard butterfly (1:52:68), Hedo in the 100-yard freestyle (47:44), Gareth McGee nipped teammate Marrucho for first in the 200-yard backstroke (1:51:62), Colton Kleynhans in the 500-yard freestyle (4:46:94), Kuper in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:09:90) and the 400-yard freestyle team of Ackerman, Silkaitis, McGee and Santoro (3:07:94).

Miami also took the top three spots in 3-meter diving with Salukis, Kyle Carevic and Alex Moretto placing fourth and fifth.

For their next competition the men's swimming and diving team travels to Missouri in Columbia, Mo. for a three-day meet Friday through Sunday, Nov. 2-4.

Special thanks to Southern Illinois athletics for contributing this story.

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