Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Currently Second & Third After Day Two Of The 2003 MVC Championships
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Feb. 21, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - Saluki freshman Christian Tinajero won his first MVC title and set the MVC meet record in the 400 IM with his time of 3:58.08 on Friday. His win, along with victories by sophomores Marcelo Possato (100 back), Suzanne Souders (100 back) and Ashley MacCurdy (400 IM), who also won their first MVC titles, leave the Southern Illinois University men in second and the women third after two days of competition at the 2003 MVC Swimming & Diving Championships at the Student Rec Center.
The Saluki men (605) trail SMS (690) by 85 points after ending day two. SIU trailed by 18 points after day one of the meet. Evansville is a distant third with 322.
"We've had better outcomes before, but not because of a lack of effort. This meet is not over. We still have a day to come back and fight to retain our title. We can say it's over or not allow the meet to end until we say it's over on Saturday and we're going to battle on Saturday," said Walker.
In addition to Tinajero and Possato, the Salukis picked up strong performances from Adam Gangl (2nd, 100 fly), Edoardo Daelli (3rd, 200 free), Derek Helvey (2nd, 400 IM) and George Oxinos (3rd, 400 IM).
The SIU women (491) are now third behind SMS (613) and Illinois State (534) after trailing the pre-meet favorite Bears by 38 after day one. Evansville (327) is fourth and Northern Iowa (236) is fifth after two days.
"We had some solid performances but we have a few holes in our lineup. The kids we have are swimming well. We broke the record in the 800 free relay but SMS broke the record as well and beat us. It's going to take a lot to beat SMS tomorrow. They're very deep and swimming very well. We have to focus and hopefully we can beat Illinois State for second place," said Jeff Goelz, SIU head women's coach.
SIU picked up strong performances by Brigitta Olson (2nd, 400 IM), Amber Mullins (2nd, 100 back), Andri Hadjiantoniou (4th, 100 back) and Karina Belache (4th, 100 fly) in addition to first-time champions MacCurdy and Souders.
Saturday's prelims will be held at 10 a.m. and the finals will be at 5 p.m. as the SIU men and women hope to repeat as champions. The 2003 MVC Championship concludes Saturday and is free and open to the public.