Salukis Hosts Missouri Valley Conference Swimming And Diving Championships
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Feb. 20, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois will host the 2002 Missouri Valley Conference swimming and diving championships starting tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. and concluding Saturday at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium located in the SIU Recreation Center. The meet will run Thursday, February 21 through Saturday, February 23 , with the preliminaries starting at 11:00 a.m. and the finals starting at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday the preliminaries will start at 10:30 a.m. with the finals starting at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free for the three-day event.
The Salukis are consider one of the top contenders for the conference championship on both the men's and women's side. The women's team was picked as the favorite in the prechampionship coaches poll edging Evansville by one vote with SMS, Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Bradley following. The women's team will try to defend its title from last year and seek to add its sixth title in seven years.
"The girls have trained hard, lifted well, they've looked good all season long and they should perform great, there isn't any reason why they shouldn't perform great. We're putting all our eggs in a basket, we've won the championships five years in a row now," said Jeff Goelz, SIU's women's swimming and diving head coach.
The men will try to upset Southwest Missouri State, winner of the past two championships. SMS was picked as the favorite in the prechampionship coaches poll on the men's side just ahead of SIU, Evansville, Northern Iowa and Bradley rounded out the poll. The Saluki men finished as runner-up to the Bears for the second year in a row last year 916-911.
The women's team will look to last years conference champions, sophomore Leane Pienaar and senior Brooke Radostits, to lead the way. Pienaar won the 3 conference titles last year (500 and 1,650 freestyle and the 400 individual medley). Radostits will attempt to win her fourth title in a row in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. The men's team has three defending champions, seniors Corne Prozesky (200 breaststroke) and Chrysanthos Papachrysanthou (50 freestyle) as well as sophomore Derek Helvey (500 freestyle and 400 individual medley). Papachrysanthou is attempting to capture his fourth MVC title in the 50 freestyle.
Despite the early favorites, the competition in the conference championship looks to be tougher than previous years. Four of the five men's conference teams are ranked in the latest Collegeswimming.com poll, with SMS being ranked #1 with SIU #7, Evansville #14 and Northern Iowa #25. The women put five of the six teams in the conference in the same poll, Evansville #3, SMS #5, SIU #8, ISU #14 and UNI #22.
"Pretty much the whole conference has gotten a lot better. Evansville has always had some great swimmers, Southwest has turned it up a notch this year, Illinois State has done the same, Bradley bringing a full squad will make the meet deeper and Northern Iowa has picked up some great athletes and have taken a few steps forward from last year. Everything is pointing to a faster and deeper conference meet then before, so it should be very exciting," commented Goelz on the conference.
The Evansville women's team has returning MVC Most Valuable Swimmer and NCAA qualifier Kim Dodson and MVC champions Emily Tomes and Jaimie Davidson, the men's team returns MVC Most Valuable Men's Swimmer in Nikola Kalabic. SMS has arguably the best divers in the conference in both the men's and women's side with NCAA Qualifiers and returning conference champions John Waldon and Vanessa Noriega. Three-time 200 butterfly champion Michael Baima leads a strong swim team that includes NCAA qualifier Josh Wegrzyn and 200 women's breaststroke champion Brianne McGuirk. Illinois State has one of the best divers in the conference in Terra Whisman and best sprint freestylist in Lindsay Crowder. Northern Iowa's Andrea Johnson is a NCAA qualifier in the 1-meter dive. However Coach Goelz likes his chances in competing with the other Valley schools and he believes his women are up for the challenge. "There will always be some nerves, but I can't see how you can't be excited. We've done all the right things to get this point, a great training trip to Puerto Rico. This is what the kids wait for all year and now it's here." said Goelz.
2002 Missouri Valley ConferenceSwimming and Diving Championships
Order of EventsWomen's Events Men's Events Day 1 - Thursday , February 21Preliminaries 11:00 a.m. 1 200-yard Free Relay? 2 3 500-yard Freestyle 4 5 200-yard Individual Medley 6 7 50-yard Freestyle 8 9 1 Meter Diving (6 Dives) 10 11 400-yard Medley Relay? 12Finals 6:00 p.m. -- events in same sequence as above
Day 2 - Friday, February 22Preliminaries 11:00 a.m. 13 200-yard Medley Relay? 14 15 400-yard Individual Medley 16 17 100-yard Butterfly 18 19 200-yard Freestyle 20 21 100-yard Breaststroke 22 23 100-yard Backstroke 24 25 800-yard Free Relay? 26 3 Meter Diving (6 Dives) 38Finals 6:00 p.m. -- events in same sequence as above
Day 3 - Saturday, February 23Preliminaries 10:30 a.m. 29 200-yard Backstroke 30 31 100-yard Freestyle 32 33 200-yard Breaststroke 34 35 200-yard Butterfly 36 37 Three-meter Springboard 38 39 400-yard Free Relay? 40 27 1,650-yard Freestyle* 28 37 3 Meter Diving (6 Dives)Finals 5:00 p.m. -- events in same sequence as above
? All relay events are timed finals. They will held during the finals sessions.* The 1,650-yard freestyle is a timed final event. The fastest heat will be contested during the Saturday evening finals session. The heats will run from fastest to slowest, and alternate women and men.
Diving ScheduleThursday 1:15 Women's 1M Diving Preliminaries 3:30 Men's 1M Diving Preliminaries 6:30 Women's 1M Diving Finals 8:15 Men's 1M Diving FinalsFriday 1:00 Men's 3M Diving Preliminaries (11 Dives) 6:15 Men's 3M Diving Finals (6 Dives)Saturday 11:30 Women's 3M Diving Preliminaries (11 Dives) 5:15 Women's 3M Diving Finals (6 Dives)+