Swimming & Diving Teams Travel To Southwest Missouri For Tri-Meet
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Jan. 24, 2002
CARBONDALE, Il. - Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams will travel to Springfield, MO. to take on host Southwest Missouri and Louisiana-Monroe at the John Q. Hammons Student Center Pool on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. This is the last meet for both men's and women's teams before the Missouri Valley Conference Championships on February 21-23.
SMS will host a tri-meet against St. Louis University and Louisiana-Monroe tomorrow before taking on both the Salukis and Indians of Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. Despite the back-to-back meets the Salukis aren't anticipating a tired Bears team on Saturday.
"They've (SMS) won it two years in a row now. This is new territory for us, we are the underdogs. We have to come out fighters and create our own opportunities," said Rick walker, SIU's men's swimming and diving head coach on the SMS men's team.
The Louisiana-Monroe Indians have had a rough year, but they have faced tough competition all year. Including facing nationally ranked Texas A&M and SMU.
The SMS men are currently ranked #2 in the Mid-Major Poll on Collegeswimming.com. However the Salukis (ranked #7) don't look at rankings, especially after beating #4 Western Kentucky pretty easily this past weekend.
The women's team ( ranked #7) hopes to rebound after a tough lost against #2 Western Kentucky by defeating SMS (#11). The women beat the Bears last year at home and would like a victory over their conference rival before heading into the MVC Championships as the likely favorites after winning it last year.