CARBONDALE, Ill. January, 29. THE Southern Illinois University swimming & diving teams lost to Western Kentucky Saturday afternoon in the Salukis' final non-conference meet of the season. The men lost to the Hilltoppers 131-112 while the women lost 134-106.<\/p>\n
SIU returns to action Saturday, Feb. 4 with the team's final meet of the season, at home against Evansville.<\/p>\n
Though the Salukis were able to win some events, WKU was able to put up some fast times and fend off SIU.<\/p>\n
"They were really ready for us," said SIU head coach Rick Walker. "But, we are right where we want to be. We swam tired and we are going to take a break now. Today was not so much about time as it was doing the right things."<\/p>\n
Even though the swimmers struggled to get something going, SIU's diving teams were able to come out and dominate in their respective events.<\/p>\n
For the women, freshman Jessica Leong won both diving events. She scored a 258.00 in the 1-Meter and a 228.90 in the 3-Meter. Cristina Curtuneanu posted a second-place finish in the 1-Meter (226.35) and a fourth-place in the 3-Meter (199.73).<\/p>\n
Melissa Hanson posted her best score of the season with a 201.00 in the 3-Meter, finishing third.<\/p>\n
For the men, Brandon Birchak won in the 1-Meter with a score of 242.78, followed by Andrew Flor in second with a 231.83. The duo switched places in the 3-Meter with Flor winning (240.53) and Birchak coming in second (239.18).<\/p>\n
Individually for the women's swim team, freshman Isabel Madeira brought home the team's only individual title. Madeira swam the 100-Yard Freestyle in 52.43 to take the top spot.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth McGowan posted two runner-up finishes for the Salukis. She placed second in the 1000-Yard Freestyle with a time of 10:24.89, and in the 500-Yard freestyle with a time of 5:09.55.<\/p>\n
Nora Bunford also posted a runner-up finish, coming in second in the 200-Yard Breaststroke with a time of 2:27.18.<\/p>\n
For the men's team, sophomore Antonio Santoro led the way with two individual victories. Santoro won the 200-Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:41.45 and the 500-Yard Freestyle with a time of 4:33.62.<\/p>\n
Gareth McGee also came in with an individual title, taking first in the 200-Yard Individual Medley with a time of 1:54.78. McGee also posted a runner-up finish in the 200-Yard Backstroke with a time of 1:50.08.<\/p>\n
"We will definitely see a dramatic change in the team after a little rest. I know they are hungry and tired of swimming and being tired," said Walker. "It's hard to explain. Before you rest, you definitely have to be tired. Our athletes are ready to swim fast and they are hungry for it."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CARBONDALE, Ill. January, 29. THE Southern Illinois University swimming & diving teams lost to Western Kentucky Saturday afternoon in the Salukis' final non-conference meet of the season. The men lost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n