Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Saluki Mile
Swimming and Diving tested at annual preseason distance events
09/25/2010 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Sept. 25, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois swimming and diving program hosted its annual preseason events this weekend, competing in the Saluki Miler and the Open Water 5K.
Friday night, the Saluki women swam against Missouri Valley Conference foe Illinois State in the 1650 freestyle race. Last year's NCAA Championship qualifier Kirsten Groome finished first by 26 seconds with a time of 17:08.06. Junior Jennifer Kwok finished fourth at 17:47.34.
Jessica England finished 10th in her debut for SIU, swimming 18:35.86.
On the men's side, newcomer Csaba Gercsak competed against Matt Parsons and Mazen Aziz. Gercsak came away with the top time of 16:09.97.
Saturday morning, SIU competed against Illinois State (women) and Evansville in the Open Water 5K at Little Grassy Lake in Marion, Ill. Groome (55:43.15) and Kwok (1:01:16.08) finished first and fourth, respectively, while England and Jessica Anderson finished in 11th and 12th place.
For the men, Southern took the first six spots, with Aziz and Parsons finishing less than three seconds apart for first and second. Gercsak, Matt Kruse, Cesar Perez and Steve Wood rounded out the field for SIU, all nearly clocking in at under an hour.
With its preseason distance events now complete, SIU will kick off head-to-head competition Oct. 9 when the women's team hosts Vanderbilt, followed by a tri-meet with Kentucky and Missouri Oct. 16 at Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.
Players Mentioned
