Swimming and Diving hosts Senior day meet saturday

The Saluki men's and women's swimming and diving team closes out the 2017-18 regular season on Saturday at home against Evansville in its senior day meet. The program will honor its 17 senior men and women in a ceremony during Saturday's meet.

Swimming Salukis
The Saluki men and women are coming off of a weekend where both teams swam in a meet against Indiana State. The Saluki women defeated Indiana State 189-111 winning 10 of the 16 events in the meet. The men's team swam time trials in the meet since Indiana State does not field a men's team.

In that meet, the Saluki women were led by their divers. In both the one and three-meter dive, the Salukis swept the top-four spots and earned the Salukis 32 points in total towards their team score. Sophomore Beibei Ji won both the one and three-meter dive and all four of the team's divers set personal bests in the one-meter dive and senior Rachel Williams set personal bests in both dives.

In the pool, The Salukis recorded eight wins led by Bryn Handley who won the 1,000 and 500-yard freestyle. They were Handley's 11^th and 12^th wins across all events this season. Handley still has not lost in the 1,000-yard freestyle this year.

Senior Kelsie Walker also had a strong meet. She finished first in the 200-yard freestyle for her first win in the event this season. Her time of 1:53.82 was her best of the season in the event by more than a second.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Juliana Carvalho, Jess Peck, Rita Naude and Chandler Ott set a new best time for the Salukis in the event this season.

Coach Walker's Thoughts
"We're very fortunate that our last meet is usually against Evansville. We have a very good relationship with Evansville and a mutual respect. We're able to have fun in this meet. Fun is what got these athletes into the sport. Since this will likely be our seniors' last dual meet at SIU, I want to see them have fun going out and take that full circle. I want them to step up and reflect back and be able to say that it was the best four years of my life."

"Rest is getting closer and closer to paramount. We're not quite there yet with the women and the men are still tired. I want us to compete. I think we've been swimming better in the second half of the season, which is what you'd like to see. I think we're progressing well and I feel very good about us going into Conference for the women. I would like to continue and not derail that. For the men, this will be the last dual meet for a while. They have a few weeks until the Conference meet, but we don't have any more competitions prior to that. We do that very well though. I'm excited. The guys are starting to look pretty good, even though they're tired. I'm excited to see how they do this weekend."

Nationally-Ranked Salukis
(Top-100 individual times and top-50 relay times)

Men's one-meter dive
- Eli Mercado | 340.27 | 90^th in Division I
Women's 1,000-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 10:01.77 | 100^th in Division I
Women's 1,650-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 16:34.46 | 66^th in Division I
Women's one-meter dive
- Beibei Ji | 310.95 |59th in Division I
- Baobao Ji | 304.95 | 73^rd in Division I

Top Dawgs
(Conference leading times)

Men's one-meter diving
- Eli Mercado | 340.27
Women's 500-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 4:52.72
Women's 1,650-yard freestyle
- Bryn Handley | 16:34.46
Women's one-meter diving
- Beibei Ji | 310.95

Getting Recognized

Saluki swimmers and divers have earned weekly awards from their respective conferences 13 times this season. The Saluki women have won have won MVC Weekly Award 10 times this season, the most of any Valley program 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
January 30 | Bryn Handley | MVC Swimmer of the Week
January 30 | Beibei Ji | MVC Diver of the Week

*Baobao Ji was named the MVC Diver of the Month for September on October 20. A monthly award was given out by the Valley for September since many teams in the league didn't start competition until October.

Conference Championship Warm-up

This is the eighth time this season that the Saluki women's team has squared up against an in-conference foe. Earlier this season, Southern defeated Evansville in a relay meet and Illinois State in a tri-meet against Illinois State. In the first meet of 2018, the Saluki women downed Arkansas-Little Rock 224-60. At the Butler Invite, the Salukis out-performed MVC newcomers Valparaiso by a total of 281 points. Last week, the Salukis defeated Indiana State. The only time the Saluki women have fallen to a MVC foe this year was back in October when Missouri State defeated Southern 138-105.

The men swam against their fellow MAC teams twice this season, defeating Evansville in a relay meet in September and losing to Missouri State on October 7. This will be the team's third and final meet against Mid-American Conference programs before the MAC Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 28.

Scouting Evansville

The Saluki men and women have a long history against Evansville that the Salukis have been highly successful in. The Saluki men first swam against Evansville in 1965 and are a perfect 35-0 against the Purple Aces in dual meets. The women first faced Evansville in 1995 and are 30-1 against Evansville in the series history. Earlier this season, the Saluki men and women defeated Evansville in a relay meet at Evansville.

This season, Evansville's women's team is led be a good freestyle swimmer whose name is at or near the top of many of the Freestyle sprint races in the MVC. Senior Danielle Freeman leads the MVC in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.98, which is good for an NCAA B Cut time. Freeman is also top-five in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle.

In the backstroke events, junior Samantha Gowdy is top-10 in the MVC in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke. She is eighth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.00 and ninth in the 100-yard backstroke. In the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, Freshman Kara Steward and junior Kristen Myers are both have top-10 times in the MVC.

In diving, Evansville's senior Courtney Coverdale is in the top-five in the one and three-meter dive among MVC swimmers. She is second in the one-meter dive. Her best score in the event this season is 307.65, less than three points behind Beibei Ji's best score and good for 67^th in the NCAA. In the three-meter dive, Coverdale is fifth with a best score this season of 285.55.

Evansville's men's team has a handful of swimmers with times in the top-10 in the Mid-American Conference. Freshman Credence Pattinson is top-10 in the MAC in the 100-yard freestyle, the 500-yard freestyle, the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke. In the backstroke events, he is top-five in the MAC. In the 100-yard backstroke, Pattinson is fourth with a time of 49.20 and fifth in the 1:49.05.

Sophomore Brandt Hudson also holds multiple times in the MAC's top-10. He is eighth in the 200-yard backstroke and the 500-yard freestyle.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Juliana Carvalho

Bryn Handley

Baobao Ji

Beibei Ji

Eli Mercado

Rita Naude

Chandler Ott

Jess Peck

Chris Phillips

Kelsie Walker

Rachel Williams

Michael Wolfe

Scoreboard

Southern Illinoise University Athletics