Southern Illinois University
Evansville
Swimming & Diving Teams Sweep Evansville
02/05/2005 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 5, 2005
Feb. 5, 2005
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Senior Marcelo Possato broke the SIU Rec Center pool and his own SIU 100-yard backstroke record to lead Southern Illinois to a sweep of the Evansville men's and women's swimming and diving teams on Saturday.
The Salukis claimed every event as the men (6-5) won 149-66 and the women (5-4) earned a 150-83 victory in their last meet before the season-ending MVC Championships and MVC Invitational.
"I was pleased with the effort today. The men and women were solid as I expected and everybody handled their last swim before conference well," said Rick Walker, SIU head coach.
"Now we have to rest, focus and get ourselves ready to end the season on a positive note."
Possato swam a 48.94 in the 100-yard backstroke to shatter the pool record (formerly 49.28 set in 1999) and his own school record set earlier this season (48.95) at the Northwestern Invitational. His time currently ranks him 20th in the nation.
"Marcelo's 100-yard backstroke was pretty good today, and he hasn't even shaved, which makes it an awesome time," added Walker.
In addition to Possato, SIU picked up career-best efforts from Miguel King (100-yard breaststroke, 57.91), Ben Palacios (3-meter dive, 264.00), Andrew Flor (1-meter-dive, 263.01), Stephan Ackerman (100-yard butterfly, 50.14) and Bryan Riekena (100-yard freestyle, 47.53) as they prepare for the MVC Invitational.
Jason Sigler (200-yard freestyle), Ivan Sanchez (1000-yard freestyle), Case Gasparovich (50-yard freestyle), Christian Tinajero (400 individual medley) and Antonio Santoro (500-yard freestyle) also won individual events.
On the women's side, Ashley MacCurdy (500-yard freestyle & 400 individual medley) and Kelsey Kinsella (100 and 200-yard freestyle) each won two events to led the Saluki effort.
Nadine Shawah set a career-high with 243.45 points in her 1-meter dive win. SIU also collected individual wins from Briley Bergen (1000-yard freestyle), Sara Lenz (50-yard freestyle), Rachel Green (100-yard butterfly), Melinda Page (100-yard backstroke) and Nora Bunford (100-yard breaststroke).
SIU will conclude its season at home, hosting the MVC Championship and MVC Invitational on Feb. 17-19 at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium in the SIU Rec Center poll.
