Results:
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ST. LOUIS -- Competing in the first road meet of the 2009-10 season, both units of the Eastern Illinois swimming squads splashed past Saint Louis on Friday evening, with the Panther men winning 114-107 while the Eastern women came out on top, 124-94.
The two EIU squads combined for 37 Top Three finishes, including eight first places for the Panther women and six for the men. With the sweep, the EIU men are now 2-1, while the women picked up their first victory to improve to 1-2 on the early season.
"This was a fantastic meet on both sides," said second year head coach Matt Bos. "The women took control of the meet early and turned in great performances throughout the meet. While the men, who were trailing going into the last two events, came up big with the meet on the line, sweeping the breaststroke and winning the 400 free relay."
The Panthers actually won both meets despite allowing the Billikens to sweep all four diving event points, as EIU no longer sport divers on their respective rosters. One highlight was the performance of
Laura Nilsen, who set a new school record in the 200 IM.
Both units got a good start as each team won the 400-Medley Relays, which was followed by first place finishes for
Ken Tiltges and
Lauren Zillmer in the 200-Free, while both
John Wilson and
Tyler Crittenden touched the wall first in the 50-Free sprint.
Zillmer picked up another race win, along with
Tyler Hsieh, in the 100-Free. The meet ended with both Panther squads earning the nightly sweep of the relays, winning both the 400-Free Relays.
Other first place winners included
Megan Eshleman and
Laura Nilsen, as both edged out the Billiken competition in the 1000-Free and 200-Back, respectively, while
Hailey Foss won the 500-Free. Junior
Matt Scaliatine, meanwhile, led an EIU 1-2-3 sweep of the 200-Breast event.
The Panthers return to the pool for one final time during the fall semester portion of the schedule, traveling to Ball State for a 5 pm dual in Muncie, Ind on December 4.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
