Swim and Dive to host Evansville, Illinois State on Senior Night

CARBONDALE, Ill. — In the final home meet for the Salukis, SIU will host Evansville and the women of Illinois State in tri-meet action on Friday, March 19 inside Shea Natatorium. Diving begins at 12pm, while swimming events will start at 2pm. The meet will be streamed via SIU's Student Recreation Center's Facebook page, and live times will be available on the Meet Mobile app.

SIU-EVANSVILLE / ILLINOIS STATE HISTORY

After the Salukis win in their first meet of 2021, the men hold the 39 meet record to the Purple Aces, defeating them with 134 team points in February. The Salukis saw first place victories in eight events, with Evansville seeing wins in three during the dual-meet, including the 1000-freestyle, 200-freestyle, and 100-butterfly.

The last meet between the Salukis and Redbirds on the women's side, was the tri-meet at Illinois in 2019, where the Salukis, Redbirds, and Illini battled in in-state competition. SIU's women overcame Illinois State, 187-113, bringing the all-time record between the schools to 6-3, in favor of Southern since 1996.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

Evansville concluded the 2019-20 season at the women's MVC Championships in sixth place, earning above their seventh place selection in the MVC preseason coaches' poll, with 272 tallied team points in Columbia, Missouri. The men's program brought in a fifth place position at the 2020 MAC Championships that resulted in three Second Team All-MAC swimmers.

The women at Illinois State completed the MVC Championships in fourth place, finishing the conference meet with 454 points and producing 2020 MVC Swimmer of the Year, senior Kierston Farley-Sepe. ISU dropped in every MVC dual-meet of the previous season. In 2019-20, the Redbirds saw nine broken school records and the return of All-MVC First Team member, Haley Rivera.

LAST TIME OUT

The Saluki men throttled Valparaiso in every event, taking the top spot and overcoming the Brown and Gold, 218.5-43.5 team points. Freshman Donat Csuvarszki earned the seed in the 50-freestyle (20.65), surpassing Salukis Zander Minano (20.68), and Marc Avery (21.06) for an SIU top-three finish, while the Salukis took both relay events last Friday. The squad of Cernek, Persson, Minano, Csuvarszki timed at 3:19.62 in the 400-medley and the 400-free relay, swam by Cernek, Yang, Schlueter, Minano finished the after with the final event win for the Salukis at 3:03.42. The men are currently 3-1 on the season in dual and tri-meets.

The women also were accomplished last weekend, edging Valparaiso's women and Arkansas-Little Rock in the MVC match-up. With 223 points to the Brown and Gold and 185 team points to the Trojans, freshman Mima Zaborska had a day, winning three individual events (100 and 200-breaststroke, 200-IM), and starting off the meet with the winning 400-medley relay squad, and freshman Melanie Scheiblein sought growth, battling out for two second-place finishes (200-breaststroke, 400-medley relay), a third place finish in the 100-breaststroke (1:05.85) and garnered points for the Salukis in the 200-IM with a sixth place finale (2:11.27).

WEEKLY WINNERS

With two weeks left for the men and three left in the season for the Saluki women, both the Mid-American and Missouri Valley Conferences acknowledged SIU swimmers this past week. Freshman Austin Kinsler was named the MAC Swimmer of the Week, with his performance against Valparaiso last Friday, where he garnered his first individual win in the 1000-freestyle (9:54.67), improving from his previous by over 10 seconds. The Valley noticed senior Sierra Forbord, who was named MVC Co-Swimmer of the Week on Wednesday. Forbord recorded two second-place finishes and two first-place wins against Valparaiso and Little Rock, including her new lifetime best in the 200-freestyle (1:48.96).

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