Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Western Kentucky
Swimming and Diving topped by Western Kentucky
01/29/2011 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Jan. 29, 2011
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Southern Illinois swimming and diving teams came up empty-handed in trying to avenge their losses to Western Kentucky from last season, as the Salukis lost two close meets at the hands of the Hilltoppers Saturday afternoon.
The women's team fell 173.5-109.5 and the men were defeated 170-127.
The women's 200 medley relay team of Isabela Castro, Kristin Geppert, Marcela Teixeira and Rachael Barry got SIU on the board first with a third-place finish to start the day.
Kirsten Groome ran away with the 1000 free, sealing the top time by more than 13 seconds (10:09.63), with Jennifer Kwok finished right behind in second place. Csaba Gercsak anchored the race on the men's side, with a first place time of 9:37.20.
In a very close race on both sides, Jill Weckbach tied for third in the 200 free and Matt Parsons finished fourth. In the 100 back, Castro finished fourth and Cesar Perez finished second.
Geppert and Teixeira swam their way to second and fourth place in the 100 breast, while Seyi Fatayi-Williams and Steve Wood mirrored their performances for the men. In the 200 fly, Groome swam her way to third place and Justin Wolfe cruised to an outright victory at 1:51.45.
Luisa Silveira narrowly missed a win in the 50 free, finishing second with a time of 24.55, and Juan Arbelaez Osorio finished third (21.76).
In the diving events, Michelle Bell finished third in both the 1-meter and 3-meter for the Salukis. Justin Ruszkowski carried over his strong performances from last weekend's meeting with Ball State, winning the 1-meter (309.97) and the 3-meter (295.43).
El Badrawi and Silveira finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 free, before Castro posted a second-place time in the 200 back and Perez edged WKU's Adam Dajka for the win, swimming 1:51.79.
Groome collected her second individual victory of the day in the 500 free with a time of 4:59.38 and Gercsak came in second on the men's side at 4:40.75. Wolfe was also a double-winner on the day, beating out Nick Slattery in the 100 fly for first place at 49.24.
The men's and women's 400 free relay `A' teams both produced second-place times in the meet's last races. Barry, Groome, Kwok and Silveira swam 3:38.95 and Wolfe, Jared Bradd, Parsons and Badrawi swam 3:06.20.
Only one dual meet stands between the Salukis and their respective conference championships. Southern Illinois will host Evansville next Saturday, Feb. 5. The meet time has been moved up to 10 a.m. CT.
Players Mentioned
