Wednesday, March 4
Carbondale, IL
Southern Illinois University
vs
MAC Championships (MEN)
Salukis in third place at MAC Championships
03/04/2020 | 8:42:00 | Swimming & Diving
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois men's swimming and diving team swam to a pair of third-place finishes on Day one at the Mid-American Conference Championships inside Shea Natatorium. The Salukis trail Missouri State and Miami (OH) for first place by 10 points through two finals events.
"I feel pretty good about our performances," first-year head coach Geoff Hanson said. "Our 200-medley relay swam a really good time. Each of the four guys swam their fastest splits of the season. We had solid splits in our 800-free relay. We just have to be a little more aggressive with our races. We're going to make adjustments and get better as we go."
The Salukis opened the championship meet with a third-place time of 1:28.13 in the 200-yard medley relay. The quartet of Adam Cernek, Jimmy Dooley, Tamas Hajtman and Zheng Yang Yeap swam to a season-best mark in the event, which was less than a second shy of the school record (1:27.51).
"We're always going for a school record," Hanson said. "Our guys asked to do a time trial for it later this week because they know how close they are. We swam fast enough to break it, but our exchanges were a little slow. It adds up in a relay of that distance."
The team of Yeap, Chris Phillips, Kevin Kluge and Cernek raced to a third-place mark of 6:37.55 in the 800-yard freestyle. SIU was in second place through the first two legs, but dropped to third place in final 400 yards of the event.
SIU will be back in action tomorrow for Day two at the MAC Championships, which will feature five finals events. Preliminary events will begin at 10:30 a.m, followed by finals events at 6:30 p.m.
"We only had six guys swim tonight, so it'll be good to get the rest of the team involved," Hanson said. "The other 11 swimmers and three divers are eager to start."
Follow @SIU_SwimDive on twitter, @SIUSwimandDive on Instagram and Saluki Swimming and Diving on Facebook for the latest updates on the Salukis.
Day 1 Standings
T1. Missouri State - 74
T1. Miami (OH) - 74
3. Southern Illinois - 64
T4. Ball State - 58
T4. Evansville - 58
"I feel pretty good about our performances," first-year head coach Geoff Hanson said. "Our 200-medley relay swam a really good time. Each of the four guys swam their fastest splits of the season. We had solid splits in our 800-free relay. We just have to be a little more aggressive with our races. We're going to make adjustments and get better as we go."
The Salukis opened the championship meet with a third-place time of 1:28.13 in the 200-yard medley relay. The quartet of Adam Cernek, Jimmy Dooley, Tamas Hajtman and Zheng Yang Yeap swam to a season-best mark in the event, which was less than a second shy of the school record (1:27.51).
"We're always going for a school record," Hanson said. "Our guys asked to do a time trial for it later this week because they know how close they are. We swam fast enough to break it, but our exchanges were a little slow. It adds up in a relay of that distance."
The team of Yeap, Chris Phillips, Kevin Kluge and Cernek raced to a third-place mark of 6:37.55 in the 800-yard freestyle. SIU was in second place through the first two legs, but dropped to third place in final 400 yards of the event.
SIU will be back in action tomorrow for Day two at the MAC Championships, which will feature five finals events. Preliminary events will begin at 10:30 a.m, followed by finals events at 6:30 p.m.
"We only had six guys swim tonight, so it'll be good to get the rest of the team involved," Hanson said. "The other 11 swimmers and three divers are eager to start."
Follow @SIU_SwimDive on twitter, @SIUSwimandDive on Instagram and Saluki Swimming and Diving on Facebook for the latest updates on the Salukis.
Day 1 Standings
T1. Missouri State - 74
T1. Miami (OH) - 74
3. Southern Illinois - 64
T4. Ball State - 58
T4. Evansville - 58
Players Mentioned
Back/IM
/ Swimming & Diving
Free/Fly
/ Swimming & Diving
Breast/IM
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