Southern Illinois University
Northern Iowa (Women)
Swimming & Diving sweeps Evansville, women top Northern Iowa
01/13/2007 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Jan. 13, 2007
By Matt Crouch
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - With the conference championships on the horizon, the Southern Illinois University Swimming & Diving teams picked up some momentum with dual meet victories over league members on Saturday.
Competing in their first home meet of the 2006-07 season, the Salukis tallied three commanding victories over Evansville and Northern Iowa.
The men's team earned a Sun Belt Conference victory over Evansville with a final score of 135-88. SIU won all but one of the events that the team competed in.
The women's team performed just as well, competing in a double-dual meet with Evansville and Northern Iowa. The women's team is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
The women beat the Purple Aces 87-39 while also topping the Panthers, 86-40. UNI did not leave the Dr. Edawrd J. Shea Natatorium winless, though, as the Panthers pulled out a 76-37 win over Evansville.
The Salukis women's team followed in the fashion of the men as SIU won every event that it competed in.
For the women, it was Therese Mattsson leading the way. The freshman from Sweden won the 100 Free (52.03) and the 200 Free (1:52.25). She also swam on the winning 200 Medley Relay team (1:49.20) with Kelly Dvorak, Nora Bunford and Samantha Dvorak.
Kelly Dvorak also picked up an individual win on the day, coming in first in the 100 Back with a time of 58.21. She also finished third in the 200 Free with a time of 1:55.57.
Bunford was another individual winner for the Salukis, taking top honors in the 100 Fly with a career-best time of 59.75. The senior from Hungary also had the top time in the 100 Breast (1:04.42) but with the win already sealed she swam as an exhibition.
Also picking up multiple wins in the meet was freshman Lisa Jaquez. The Loyalton, Calif. native won the 500 Free (5:17.08) and the 1650 Free (18:06.01) for the Salukis.
Julie Ju was also a winner in the meet, taking top honors in the 50 Free with a time of 24.27. Ju also swam as an exhibition along with Tovah Gasparovich, Danielle Quarry and Isabel Madeira in the 200 Free Relay. The team had the top time in the event, finishing in 1:38.31.
Quarry was also an individual winner in the meet, coming out victorious in the 200 IM with a time of 2:11.06. She also finished third in the 100 Back with a time of 1:02.10.
In the women's diving, the Salukis did not have any competition, but elected to still score the dives. Senior Cristina Curtuneanu set season bests on the 1 Meter and 3 Meter boards. She topped the list on the 1-Meter Dive with a score of 252.98 while also leading the way in the 3-Meter with a score of 276.63.
For the men's team, it was Dennis Hedo leading the way with two individual wins. The sophomore from Sweden won the 50 Free with a time of 20.93 and the 100 Free with a time of 45.64. He also swam on the 200 Free Relay team that swam as an exhibition, but finished with the top time of 1:25.72.
Also swimming on the 200 Free Relay team with Hedo were Stephan Ackermann, Vinicius Waked and Patrick Sullivan.
Ackermann also had a good day as he won the 100 Fly with a time of 49.84 while also finishing second in the 50 Free behind Hedo (21.39).
Waked turned in a similar performance as he won the 200 Free with a time of 1:40.18. He also finished second to Hedo, coming in with a time of 46.86 in the 100 Free.
Coming in behind Waked in the 200 Free was fellow Brazilian Antonio Santoro with a time of 1:40.72. Santoro also had a pair of wins on the day, coming in first in the 500 Free with a time of 4:33.91 and swimming as part of the winning 200 Medley Relay team.
Santoro swam along with Alexandre Marrucho, Jameson Kuper and Gareth McGee in the 200 Medley Relay, coming in with a time of 1:35.35.
Marrucho and McGee also had individual wins in the meet. Marrucho led the way in the 200 IM with a time of 1:56.83 while McGee was tops in the 100 Back with a time of 52.27.
While he did not get an individual win, Kuper had the top time in the100 Breast (1:00.32) as he swam as an exhibition.
In men's diving, Ben Palacios posted a season-best score of 249.83 on the 1-Meter to take the win while fellow senior Andrew Flor took the 3-Meter win with a season-best 263.85.
With the win, the men's swimming & diving teams improve to 7-1 in dual meets while the women improve to 6-3.
The Salukis return to action on Saturday, Jan. 20 with a dual meet against conference foe Missouri State. Action is set to begin at 1 p.m. at SIU's Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.
Players Mentioned
