Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving In Second After Day One Of 2003 MVC Championships
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Feb. 20, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - Freshmen Liz McGowan and Sakis Lambrou and sophomore Adam Gangl pulled off upset wins, leading the Southern Illinois University men's and women's swimming and diving teams to second place after day one of the 2003 MVC Swimming & Diving Championships at the Student Rec Center on Thursday.
McGowan set an MVC Championship Meet record and a Rec Center Pool record with her time of 4:58.07 in the 500 free, a career-best. Her impressive win carried SIU to its second place finish (227 points). The Salukis trail SMS (265) by 38 points. Illinois State (211) is a close third, followed by Evansville (130) and Northern Iowa (115).
"Liz McGowan was awesome. Andrea Johnson was great in the 1-Meter dive finishing second. Natalie Kenny had a great swim in the first 500 free final and then Liz (McGowan) breaks the conference record in the A final and the team got pumped up and started to swim better. We had a good evening as far as our people coming back and swimming better after a rough morning. We moved up in a lot of places. We need a great morning and evening the next two days to have a shot to win this meet," Jeff Goelz, SIU head women's coach said.
In addition to McGowan, Andrea Johnson finished second in the 1-Meter dive. SIU also received strong performances from Briley Bergen, Ashley MacCurdy and Amber Mullins, who finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the 500 free behind McGowan's record-setting performance and Suzanne Souders, Melinda Page and Andri Hadjiantoniou, who finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the 200 IM.
On the men's side, wins by Lambrou and Gangl in the 50 free and 200 IM respectively, despite not being seeded in the top four in either event, led the SIU men to its second place finish. The Salukis 307 points place them just 18 behind pre-meet favorite SMS (325). Evansville is in third place with 142 points.
"Gangl and Lambrou winning those two races were huge. We won the 50 free and the 200 IM and we weren't seeded near the top in either event. We were flat this morning and the guys came out aggressive in the finals tonight. We expected to be trailing by more than 50 points after day one and were down 18 so I feel good. SMS is the team to beat and we need to have that approach in both sessions each day if we are going to win the meet. Our divers did an outstanding job finishing second, third, fourth and fifth," said Rick Walker, SIU men's head coach.
Jake Sinclair finished second in the 1-Meter dive and was followed by Devin Aikins, David Likar and Adam Peper as the Salukis swept the second through fifth places. Bryan Riekena, Edoardo Daelli and Mitchell Richards finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the 50 free behind Lambrou and Derek Helvey, Ivan Sanchez and Marcelo Possato grabbed the third through fifth spots in the 500 free to help SIU finish second.
Friday's prelims will be held at 10 a.m. and the finals will be at 6 p.m. as the men and women look to defend their 2002 crowns. The 2003 MVC Championship meet runs through Saturday and is free and open to the public.