Swimming & Diving Teams Face Western Kentucky On Saturday
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Jan. 17, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
The men's and women's swimming and diving teams take on highly touted Western Kentucky University in a non-conference dual meet on Saturday January 19 at the Preston Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky at 1:00 p.m.
This meet kicks off the second half of the swimming and diving season for both the men's and women's teams. Both teams have been training since their last meet against the University of Missouri on December 8th. Included in the training was a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the teams.
"Puerto Rico was great , the best training trip. We went there 2 years ago and I said it then and I say it now, it's the best training conditions you can ask for. You cannot find conditions like that in to many places, where the athletes have nothing to do but train, eat and sleep. If we wanted to go to the beach, we went, but only a couple of times. The rest of the time was spent training and preparing for this little stretch of meets before the conference championships," said Rick Walker, SIU's men's swimming and diving head coach.
The Salukis have two meets remaining before the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in February. After the Hilltopers, the Salukis hit the road again to face conference rival Southwest Missouri State and Northeast Louisiana in Springfield, Missouri.
"WKU (#4) and SMS (#2) are ranked ahead of us in the Mid-Major Polls. We could easily walk away with two losses, but that isn't our focus. Our focus is to take these teams down. Then we head to conference and the heavy favorite is SMS, they've won it two years in a row now. This is new territory where we are the underdogs. We have to come out fighters and create our own opportunities." commented Walker.
The Saluki men's team (2-1 in dual meets) is ranked #7 in the latest Collegeswimming.com Mid-Major Poll. The women's team (2-2 in dual meets) is also ranked #7 in the women's poll. But neither team is looking past Western Kentucky.
"Western Kentucky has some weaknesses that I think we can capitalize on, but they can be really good. We went there two years ago and they had the band playing and the facility was packed with people and they were pumped. Then last year they came off a horrendous training trip down in Florida, which was not our fault and we had a good one. They swam really poorly, not up to their capabilities and we beat them pretty bad. But that was last year and we can't get caught up in all the hoopla which I'm sure will be there." said Walker.
Western Kentucky had a rough start after their training trip. Their men's team lost to Wright State and highly favored women's team (6-0 in dual meets) won despite what Hilltopper head coach Bill Powell commented as a poor performance due to fatigue from the teams Florida training trip.
The Western Kentucky women's team has perhaps arguably the best swimmer in the country in senior Brandi Carey. Carey has already qualified in four events in the NCAA Championships and is ranked in the top fifteen in the nation in four different events.
"Brandi is in a class of here own, she's always been a great athlete. This year she's really gone crazy. Which is great, I'm excited for her. Coach (Bill) Powell and Steve Crocker have done a great job with her. An athlete like her elevates everyone on a team. Two years ago they beat us and last year we beat them. It seems when we host them at home we beat them and when we go there they beat us." said Jeff Goelz, SIU's women's swimming and diving head coach.
Despite the rankings and talent of Western Kentucky, the Salukis are confident that they are prepared for the what has become a non-conference rivalry.
"Western Kentucky has some weaknesses that I think we can capitalize on, but they can be really good. We went there two years ago and they had the band playing and the facility was packed with people and they were pumped. Then last year they came off a horrendous training trip down in Florida, which was not our fault and we had a good one. They swam really poorly, not up to their capabilities and we beat them pretty bad. But that was last year and we can't get caught up in all the hoopla which I'm sure will be there." commented Walker.