Southern Illinois University
Washington (Mo.)
Swimming and Diving stays unbeaten at home
10/30/2009 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 30, 2009
By Dana Ingraham
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois men's and women's swimming and diving teams stayed perfect at home Friday night, posting two wins against Washington University in St. Louis at Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.
SIU recorded 25 total first place finishes over the course of the meet.
The Saluki women (3-0) jumped out to a quick lead in what would be a 153-65 victory over the Bears (0-2). SIU put 15 points on the board in the meet's opening event, the 200 medley relay. The A team of Samantha Dvorak, Kristin Geppert, Therese Mattsson, and Tovah Gasparovich came in first at 1:50.59, while Rachel Lardner, Jessica Anderson, Krystle Kutak, and Susan Minkel followed in suit at 1:56.18.
The men of Southern turned in an equally impressive start as they improved their dual record to 3-1 with the 140-90 win over Washington men (1-1). The Salukis finished in the top two spots of the 200 medley relay for the second time on the night. Tim Silkaitis, Jameson Kuper, Matt Parsons, and El Badrawi (1:36.00) finished just under a second before Kyle Riekena, Christopher Gaffney, Matt Kruse and Jared Bradd (1:36.98) to claim first and second place.
Both teams seized the opportunity to shine in individual competition as well. In the 1000 free, Kirsten Groome, Jennifer Kwok and Jill Weckbach were the top three finishers for the women and Badrawi and David Welker earned top honors for the men.
Seniors and sophomores led the way for SIU for the remainder of the night.
Mattsson turned in first-place times in the 200 free (1:51.90) and the 100 fly (1:00.81). Matt Parsons also added 18 points for SIU with two wins in the 200 free (1:41.76) and the 500 free (4:40.54).
Gasparovich, Silkaitis, Geppert, Perez, Kruse, Dvorak, Kwok, and Kuper each recorded at least one first-place finish in their individual events.
The Salukis swept the diving events as well, as Emily Gable earned top honors with a score of 278.62 in the 1-meter and 271.20 in the 3-meter. Justin Ruszkowski notched first-place scores of 291.37 in the 1-meter 306.23 in the 3-meter.
SIU capped off an impressive performance with two victories in the 200 free relay. Groome, Weckbach, Kwok, and Keli Kramer came in at 1:41.38 for the women and Riekena, Bradd, Steve Wood and Josh Reuck clocked in at 1:27.74 for the men.
The women's team will return to action next weekend when they host the University of Illinois Nov. 7 before both teams travel to the University of Missouri Nov. 14.
Players Mentioned
