Southern Illinois University
Drury
Men's Swimming & Diving Wins Third Straight, Beats Drury
11/15/2003 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 15, 2003
By Josh Magill
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - After defeating Drury by just three points last season, no one could blame Saluki men's head coach Rick Walker for being a little nervous going into Saturday's dual meet. By the end of the second break, most of Walker's fears had been put to rest as SIU went on to defeat Drury 146-93.
"I'm very pleased," Walker said. "With such an intense performance (last week) by our guys against Missouri, one of the big concerns would be that we wouldn't step up for this meet. (Drury) is every bit as good as any Division I program. They have some good athletes. If we don't get up for it, we can be taken down."
The Salukis posted seven different individual winners against the Panthers, including five season best times among them.
Senior Derek Helvey grabbed a season best with a win in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:40.86. Sophomore Sakis Lambrou won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.55, and he was followed in second and third place by fellow sophomore Bryan Riekena (21.65) and senior Bryant Ellam (21.79).
"What's really interesting is that our guys didn't look at it as last year we lost by three points and this year we had to vindicate ourselves or do anything special. They just wanted to win," Walker said.
Junior Adam Gangl won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:55.31 to post a season best, as well as a team best for the Salukis. Senior Edoardo Daelli grabbed a season best in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 46.13.
Junior Marcelo Possato won the 200-yard back for the second time in as many weeks. He was just short of a season best in the event, clocking in at 1:50.60. Freshman Ben Palacios grabbed a career best in the 3-meter dive with 266.47 points to snag the victory.
Junior Ryan Jackson finished off the individual events with win in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:09.20. Jackson was followed in second and third place by sophomores Miguel King (2:09.71) and Christian Tinajero (2:13.77).
"These guys stayed up for the meet and keyed in on what's going on," Walker said. "Now we can kind of let go of the dual meets and focus in on Purdue where we're going up against some Big Ten programs that would look good on a resume."
SIU returns to the pool next week when they travel to the Purdue Invitational. The invitational is scheduled to run from Thursday, Nov. 20 to Saturday, Nov. 22. Results can be found at www.SIUSalukis.com.
