Swimming and Diving to compete at Butler Invite on Sunday

Sunday, January 21

Fishers, IN

12:00 P.M.

Southern Illinois University

Butler Invite

01/18/2018 | 6:22:00 | Swimming & Diving

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

The Salukis men's and women's swimming and diving teams are back in action this weekend at the Butler Invite in Fishers, Indiana, where the team will face off against Butler, Xavier, Saint Louis and Valparaiso.

Swimming Salukis

The Saluki men and women are heading into their second meet of 2018 after strong showing from both teams against Arkansas-Little Rock and Ouachita Baptist last week. In total, the Saluki won 25 events on their way to a sweep over both teams.

This weekend, the Salukis turn their attention to the Butler Invite, a meet which the men won in 2017 and the women placed fifth in. This is the fourth-straight season the men and women will compete in the Butler Invite. The Saluki men have won the meet in the two of their last three appearances at it.

Rick Walker's Thoughts

"This is an opportunity for our swimmers to pick some of the events they want to swim in an invitational setting. Quite often, swimmers get pigeon holed into specific events because that is where our need is. This is a meet for them to say, 'hey, I'm also good in this event.' It's also a chance for us to take and look and see if people are maybe better suited in another event and remember that for the future in case they can help us out there too. It is a little more of a laid back meet. Its a real laid back time for everyone to show their stuff. Many of them will swim the same events that they typically do. Some people who traveled last weekend wont travel this weekend. Those who didn't travel last weekend will definitely travel this weekend. It's a nice, laid back atmosphere, but at the same time, this is more of a non-pressure type of event. We really look forward to the Butler Invite every year."

Nationally-Ranked Salukis

(Top-100 individual times and top-50 relay times)

Women's 1,000-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 10:01.77 | 91^st in Division I
Women's 1,650-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 16:34.36 | 65^th in Division I
Women's one-meter dive
- Beibei Ji | 300.67 | 65^th in Division I
- Baobao Ji | 299.54 | 69^th in Division I
Women's three-meter dive
- Beibei Ji | 315.38 | 91^st in Division I
Men's one-meter dive
- Eli Mercado | 340.27 | 80^th in Division I

Top Dawgs

(Conference leading times and diving scores)

Women's 500-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 4:52.72
Women's 1,000-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 10:01.77
Women's 1,650-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 16:34.46
Men's one-meter dive
- Eli Mercado | 340.27

Getting Recognized

Saluki swimmers and divers have earned weekly awards from their respective conferences 11 times this season.

September 28 | Eli Mercado | MAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week
October 20 | Baobao Ji | MVC Diver of the Month
October 26 | Eli Mercado | MAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week
October 31 | Bryn Handley | MVC Swimmer of the Week
October 31 | Baobao Ji | MVC Diver of the Week
November 4 | Bryn Handley | MVC Swimmer of the Week
November 7 | Michael Wolfe |MAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week
November 21 | Beibei Ji | MVC Diver of the Week
December 5 | Bryn Handley | MVC Swimmer of the Week
January 16 | Beibei Ji | MVC Diver of the Week
January 19 | Chris Phillips | MAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week

Heading to Nationals

No Saluki swimmers have posted NCAA A or B cut times as of yet this season, however a few Salukis are knocking on the door of qualification. On the men's side, sophomore Matt Ciezczak is less that a second away from recording a B cut time. His best time this season is 21.15 and this season's B cut standard in 20.19. Sophomore diver Eli Mercado has already qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Meet in the one and three-meter dives.

On the women's side, Seniors McKenna Avery and Chandler Ott are both about a second off of qualifying standards for the 50-yard freestyle. The B cut standard is 22.99 and Avery and Ott have swam the event in 23.84 and 23.99 respectively this season. Handley is close to qualifying in the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle. She is less that a second off of the 4:47.79 standard in the 500-yard freestyle and just over a second off of the 1,650-yard freestyle standard. Beibei and Baobao Ji both have posted scores that qualify them for the NCAA Zone Diving Meet in March.

Conference Championship Warm-up

This is the fifth time this season that the Saluki women's team has squared up against an in-conference foe. And the men have faced in-conference opponents twice. Earlier this season, Southern defeated Evansville in a relay meet and Illinois State in a tri-meet against Illinois State. However, it is the first time the Salukis have been in a dual-meet against a conference foe since Oct. 7 when Southern was defeated by Missouri State. Going forward, three of the women's team's four remaining meets are dual meets against Missouri Valley Conference teams.

Scouting Butler

The Butler Bulldogs are hosting the Butler Invite for the ninth-straight season. The Bulldogs only field a women's team and it is led by sophomore backstroke swimmer Grace Grzybek and freshman backstroke swimmer Emma Spotts. Grzybek is fifth in the Big East in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:02.51. In the 100-yard backstroke, she is sixth in the conference with a time of 56.86. For Spotts, she is sixth in the Big East in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:0483 and seventh in the 200-breaststroke with a time of 2:21.88.

The Saluki women have never faced off head-to-head against Butler, but the teams did compete at last year's Butler Invite. At that meet, Butler finished third overall and the Salukis were fifth.

Scouting Xavier

Like Butler, Xavier competes in the Big East. On the women's side of the team, Xavier has a sprint freestyle swimmer that is among the best in the conference. Sophomore Emily Conners is top-three in the conference in the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle. In the 100-yard backstroke, three of the top-five times in the Big East are currently held by Musketeers. Freshman Lorelei Gaertner is second in the Big East with a time of 55.03 and has already earned an NCAA b cut time. Sophomore Ali Fort is third in the conference with a time of 56.04 and senor Paxtyn Drew is fourth with a time of 56.45. Gaertner is also third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.90.

For Xavier's men's team, it possess a strong distance freestyle swimmer in freshman Nick Mahoney. Mahoney is third in the Big East in the 1,000 and 1,650-yard freestyle. His best time in the 1,000-free is 9:39.86 and in the 1,650-free his time is 15:57.36. In the breaststroke events, junior Matthew Dyer leads the way. Dyer is second in the conference in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.97 and third in the 200-breast with a time of 2:04.01. In the 100-yard butterfly, junior David Bunnell possess the second fastest time in the Big East at 49.80.

The Saluki men and women have never faced off in a head-to-head matchup against Xavier.

Scouting Saint Louis

Saint Louis competes in the Atlantic-10 Conference and fields and men's and a women's team.

For the women, senior swimmer Mina Glenesk leads the way. She is in the top-five in the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle. Her time in the 500-yard freestyle is the third fastest in the A-10 at 4:58.25. She is fifth fastest in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:12.54. In the 1,000-yard freestyle, she sits just out of the top five in sixth with a time of 10:21.25.

The men's team is led by senior Ryan McCoy who has already clinched three NCAA B cut times in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200 and 500-yard freestyle. He leads the conference in the 100, 200, 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. SLU's Isaiah Williams leads the way in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:48.15. In the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke, junior Justin Mars is in the top-five in both events. He is third in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 56.17 and fourth in the 200-breaststroke with a time of 2:05.43.

In total, the Saluki men and women have faced Saint Louis six times in head-to-head matchups and won all six times. Five of those wins belong to the men's team.

Scouting Valparaiso

Valparaiso has both a men's and women's team. The men compete in the Summit League while the women's team is the newest in the Missouri Valley Conference.

For the women, the team is still looking to settle into the MVC and does not currently have any swimmers within the top-10 times in the conference. However, sophomore Paige Wright did earn Valpo its first MVC Swimmer of the Week award on November 14.

Valparaiso's men's team has just one swimmer with a time in the top-five an event in the Summit League. He is fifth in the 1,000 and 1,650-yard freestyle. In the 1,000-freestyle, his time is 9:44.91 and in the 1,650-freestyle his time is 16:07.73.