Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Hosts Western Kentucky Saturday
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Jan. 16, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to the pool for dual meets against Western Kentucky on Saturday at the Student Rec Center Pool at 12 p.m.
The meet will be the first race action for SIU after a seven week layoff. The undefeated Western Kentucky men (10-0) and equally strong women (15-3) will both provide a tough challenge for the Salukis.
"The WKU men are tough and will be favored to win the meet. They swim well in the short events and our freestyle has to be good to have a chance to win. They are solid all over as a team and it should be a great meet. It looks close on paper," said Rick Walker, SIU men's head coach.
"Western also swims well against us. They are a solid team and it's a great meet every year," added Jeff Goelz, SIU women's head coach. "They're good at the short events and we're good at the long events. This is a big dual meet and we have to race hard to beat them."
Both squads will be trying to shake the rust off after the long layoff, which included training over the holidays. While both coaches want to win, that won't be the only important result of Saturday's dual meets.
"This meet will allow me to mix up lineups, place people in different events and try different relay lineups. After the long layoff, it's also important to race after all the training and start getting ready for the MVC meet. We want to win, but improvement is most important," Goelz added.
"Our guys are hungry to compete and we'll see how they respond. It's not best to sit that long but we should perform well. I'm using this meet to tune the team up for the MVC meet. We want to focus on that meet, but I still hope to win Saturday," stated Walker.
The meet on Saturday will be the first of two consecutive Saturday home dual meets for SIU. The men (3-2) and women (2-4) host SMS on Jan. 25 before hosting the 2003 MVC Championships Feb. 20-22.