Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Women Swimmers Host Big Ten Rival Illinois
03/14/2001 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
October 18, 2000
Carbondale, Ill. -
The hometown fans will get a chance to see the 2000-2001 Southern Illinois University Carbondale women's swimming and diving team for the first time Thursday when they host the University of Illinois in a 5 p.m. meet at the SIUC Student Rec Center Pool.
"Illinois is a Big Ten program with a Big Ten budget and they pull some really great swimmers," Saluki women1s coach Jeff Goelz said. "They haven't had a meet yet, they've only had their Orange And Blue Meet which is their intersquad meet. So for them we will be their first competition, so I1m sure they will be ready to compete after all those days of practice."
The Salukis have had two meets and the Open Water meet to open the season under their swim caps. The Dawgs finished second to Kansas in the Open Water Meet Sept. 23 at Little Grassy. The women then finished second to Drury College by two points and then swept the field at the MVC Shootout last week.
"Illinois is pretty strong everywhere," Goelz said. "They1ve got everything from good freestyle, sprinters, distance and middle, to all the strokes, to the individual medley and the diving. They are pretty much a solid team top to bottom. We do have some people who will compete with their top swimmers. They are a very deep team, but our strength is our depth also. They are as deep or deeper than we are. They are very competitive on the top end."
Goelz has a team of 28 swimmers strong and is able to put out a contingent of three strong swimmers in each event. Last week at the MVC Shootout, the Salukis won nine of the 11 events and came in second in the other two events. Backstroker Brooke Radostits is the class of the MVC and should have a strong challenge from the Illini's Jessica Aveyard, who finished sixth the NCAA championships in the 200 backstroke and competed in the Olympic Trials.
"This is going to be a bit of battle for us," Goelz said. "It also gives up the opportunity to swim a Big Ten team. A lot of the athletes on Illinois are friends of kids on our team, so there is a little bit of camaraderie there. There is also a competition factor there, too, in that wouldn1t it be nice if we can beat them."
