Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
State Farm MVC Championships
Missouri State sweeps swimming & diving championships
02/18/2006 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 18, 2006
Complete Results
Women's 3-Meter Results
By Matt Crouch
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Despite a flurry of top times and broken records, in the end it proved not to be enough for Southern Illinois as Missouri State University held on to repeat as Missouri Valley Conference champions.
Missouri State's women's team tallied 875 points, 51 points more than SIU's 824. Illinois State came in third with a score of 765, followed by Evansville in third at 398 and Northern Iowa at fifth (273).
In the men's MVC Invitational, MSU also repeated as champion with 713 points. The Salukis followed in second with 688 points while Evansville came in third (300).
In the first event of the night, Southern Illinois' Elizabeth McGowan got the team started in winning fashion as she took the title in the 1650 Freestyle. McGowan posted a season-best time of 17:08.48 to win the event.
The senior from Fort Worth, Texas re-claimed the title after winning the 1650 Free at the 2004 MVC Championship. She lost it last year to Missouri State's Liz Geisler, who finished second this year with a time of 17:12.35.
She was followed by teammate Briley Bergen, finishing third with a time of 17:19.37. Also competing for SIU in 1650 Free final was Jenna Helm. Helm finished 13th in the event with a time of 18:23.90.
Senior Jason Sigler also posted a season-best time as he won the men's 1650 Freestyle. Sigler finished in the race in 15:47.36, topping his season-best of 15:57.16 by almost 10 seconds.
Also competing in the event were Ray Sophie and Andrew Wenger. Sophie finished sixth with a time of 16:49.72 while Wenger finished ninth with a time of 17:09.36.
After leading for much of the race, SIU's Kelly Dvorak could not hold on as she finished second in the women's 200 Backstroke with a time of 2:05.44. Missouri State's Francy Palma won the title with a time of 2:03.55.
Danielle Quarry also competed for SIU in the A Final, finishing fourth with a time of 2:09.60. Holly Hedges raced in the 200 Back B Final, coming in ninth with a time of 2:12.43.
Gareth McGee and Alexandre Marrucho stormed the men's 200 Backstroke, taking the top two places. McGee finished first with a time of 1:48.35 with Marrucho finishing right behind him in 1:48.60.
Both times are season-bests for McGee and Marrucho.
SIU newcomer Julie Ju picked up her third individual MVC title in the women's 100 Freestyle, winning the event in a SIU-record time of 50.54, a tenth of a second off the MVC record. Ju breaks the pool record of 50.64, previously held by Antonia Mahaira.
Right behind Ju was freshman Isabel Madeira, finishing second in 52.21 seconds. Also competing in the A Final was senior Kelsey Kinsella, finishing sixth in 53.27.
In the men's 100 Freestyle, MSU's Matt Beasley beat out SIU's Dennis Hedo by slightly more than a tenth of a second to take the title. Beasley finished in 44.99 while Hedo came in at 45.10.
Southern Illinois' Vinicius Waked came in right behind Hedo, finishing third with a time of 45.36 while Stephan Ackerman posted a fifth-place finish with a time of 45.54.
In the men's 100 Free B Final, senior Bryan Riekena came in eighth with a time of 46.58 while Patrick Sullivan followed in ninth with a time of 48.11.
Missouri State's Kyla Meuer picked up her first individual title of the meet, winning the women's 200 Breaststroke.
SIU's Nora Bunford posted a second-place finish in the event with a time of 2:22.75. She was followed by teammate Katie Lowry, coming in at fourth with a time of 2:26.96.
Kim Grossnickle competed for SIU in the B Final, claiming 12 th place with a time of 2:32.03.
In the men's 200 Breaststroke, Missouri State's Greg Temple picked up the title with a time of 2:00.68, beating out teammate and defending champion Seth Johnson (2:02.06).
SIU's top finisher was senior Christian Tinajero, coming in third with a time of 2:03.51. Miguel King followed in fourth with a time of 2:07.25 while Saluki Jeff Lesniak came in sixth (2:08.35).
Missouri State's Andi Rojas claimed her third individual championship of the meet in the women's 200 Butterfly, defending her title with a time of 2:05.11.
The Saluki trio of Rachel Winius, Abby Blank and Gabriela Flores finished captured third through fifth, respectively. Winius came in at 2:08.07, followed by Blank (2:08.40) and Flores (2:08.59).
Brenna Goff competed for SIU in the B Final, coming in 10th with a time of 2:14.35.
SIU's Antonio Santoro successfully defended his 200 Butterfly title, posting a time of 1:47.28 (good enough for fourth all-time at SIU), setting a new MVC and MVC Invitational record.
Santoro was followed by Ivan Zgomba as he finished third with a time of 1:52.87.
In the final women's swimming event of the night, the SIU 400 Freestyle Relay team of Isabel Madeira, Kelsey Kinsella, Danielle Quarry and Julie Ju came from behind to win with a time of 3:27.48, setting a new MVC and MVC Championship record.
In the men's 400 Freestyle Relay, the SIU team of Vinicius Waked, Stephan Ackerman, Antonio Santoro and Dennis Hedo took the title with a time of 3:00.87.
In the lone diving event of the night, MSU's Stacey Arkovich won the women's 3-Meter Diving with a score of 283.65.
The SIU tandem of Cristina Curtuneanu and Jessica Leong took second and third, respectively. Curtuneanu scored a 274.95 while Leong came in with a 266.95.
Southern Illinois swimmers and divers will have one more chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships as the Salukis participate in the Last Chance Meet, Feb. 24-25.
MVC CHAMPIONSHIP / INVITATIONAL SUPERLATIVES
MEN
- Swimmer of the Meet: Antonio Santoro (SIU)
- Diver of the Meet: Brandon Birchak (SIU)
- Diving Coach of the Meet: Joy Zhao (SIU)
- Coach of the Meet: Rickey Perkins (UE)
WOMEN
- Co-Swimmer of the Meet: Julie Ju (SIU)
- Co-Swimmer of the Meet: Andi Rojas (MSU)
- Diver of the Meet: Cristina Curtuneanu (SIU)
- Diving Coach of the Meet: Jim Huelskamp (MSU)
- Coach of the Meet: Jack Steck (MSU)
