Southern Illinois University
Evansville (men)
Men's Swimming and Diving tops Evansville
02/06/2010 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 6, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois men's swimming and diving ended its regular season on a high note Saturday afternoon, defeating Evansville 140-96.
Southern honored the 11 senior men and women in the program prior to the meet, although the women did not compete as they continue to prepare for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference championships to be held in Carbondale next week.
Both SIU and Evansville men were prepared to polish their skills in what was both teams' last dual meet before the Mid-American Conference championships. The Salukis wasted no time jumping out in front of the Purple Aces, putting points on the board early in the first two events.
SIU took the top two spots in the 400 medley relay, and El Badrawi and Barrett Mark followed finishing first and second in the 1000 free.
Matt Kruse and Chris Gaffney earned top honors in the 200 and 50 free, respectively, while the trio of Cesar Perez, Jameson Kuper, and Steve Wood took the top three spots in the 200 IM to boost the Salukis' team point total. Kuper went on to take first in the 100 breast as well.
Later in the meet, SIU also saw first-place finishes in the 100 fly from Tony Bousquet, 100 back from Tim Silkaitis, and the 500 free from Matt Parsons.
In the diving events, two Salukis posted NCAA zone qualifying scores for the 1-meter. Kyle Carevic and Justin Ruszkowski both surpassed the 300 mark, earning them each a spot in the meet for Zone C at Purdue University March 12-14.
With the win against Evansville, the Salukis improve to 5-3 in dual meets this season. The victory also marks head coach Rick Walker's 29th career win against UE.
The men will now have nearly a month to train for the MAC Championships which are schedule to take place March 4-6 on the campus of Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, Mich.
Players Mentioned
