Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Hosts MVC Rival SMS Saturday
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Jan. 23, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's and women's swimming and diving teams will wrap up their dual meet season against MVC rival SMS on Saturday at the Student Rec Center Pool at 3 p.m.
The Saluki women (2-5) lost a close dual last week and would like to beat SMS (4-4), but head coach Jeff Goelz will focus this meet on preparing for the MVC Championships.
"We're moving people all over the place to give kids a chance to swim different events to prepare for the MVC meet. This may keep us from scoring points but we're worried about the events and not scoring as many points as we can. Kids may not swim their best events. This is the last chance for someone to earn a spot on a relay or in an event. I'd like to win the meet because it's an MVC school, but we're worried about the MVC meet in February," said Goelz.
The SIU men (3-3) look forward to a tough meet from rival SMS (4-3), and head coach Rick Walker would like to win, but is focused on the MVC meet as well.
"On paper they're the better team for a dual meet. I'd like to see more emotion than we had last week. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I expect to see better performances and the guys should be focused with SMS coming to town. SMS has a great team and they are as strong as they were last year, so they'll be tough to beat," added Walker.
"Our weakest area is the sprints so we're trying to get better in that area this weekend. As long as we get better and prepared for the MVC Meet, this weekend will be a positive whether we win or lose. I want to see the guys come together, race aggressively and show some emotion."
The meet on Saturday will be the final home dual meet for the SIU men's and women's teams before hosting the 2003 MVC Championships Feb. 20-22.