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CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Eastern Illinois swimming squads opened the home portion of the 2010-11 schedule on Sunday, splitting their respective dual meets to Ball State. The Panther men splashed past the Cardinals by a one point, 103-102 win, while the EIU women dropped a tough 124-65 contest.

The split moved the Panther men to an early 2-0 season mark, while the women fell to 0-2 on the year. Besides being the home opener for Eastern, it was also the annual 'Paint the Pool Pink' event to help battle breast cancer as several other Panther squads are partaking in breast cancer awareness month during the home weekend events.

“It was a fun meet with a great crowd,” said third year head coach Matt Bos. “It's always good when dual meets have that kind of energy, especially in a home opener. The fans, including parents and friends, also did a good job of getting into the 'Paint the Pool Pink' event during breast cancer awareness month.”

First place individual winners for the EIU men included sophomore Ken Tiltges in the 200-Free (1:46.43), junior Rich Waszak in 200-Back (1:56.72), and senior Matt Scaliatine in the 200-Breast (2:12.97). Senior Alyssa Lehman won the lone event for the women, touching first in the 200-Back (2:13.51).

In relay action, the Panther men captured both the 200-Medley (1:36.74) and 200-Free Relays (1:27.32), thanks to the foursomes of Waszak, Joe Ciliak, Cody Showers, and John Wilson; and Wilson, Tiltges, Showers and Adam Jones, respectively.

Coach Bos said that the men's one-point victory was something that the Panthers knew could occur. “We knew going into the men's 200-Breast that we needed to finish strong and we ended up going 1, 2 and 4, plus the squad needed to win the final 200-Free Relay, which we did, as well as take third. We actually split up some of the guys between the A and B groups to be sure that we finished at least in the top three.”

“Was a good team effort for the guys as really no one had more than one win,” said Bos. “Matt Scaliatine and Matt O'Hagan did well in the breast event, stepping up when we needed them to, as did Michael Bower. Although he finished second in the 200-Butterfly, Nate Moritz is off to a good start, way ahead of where he has been at this point of the season in the past. He's a guy that tends to get better as the season goes on, so this is obviously a good sign. The same can be said for Rich Waszak, who is also having a solid start to season, in fact he's having as a good a dual meet season as I can remember.”

“The girls are coming along,” Bos said. “We saw a lot of improvements from our opener at IUPUI to today. We had several bright spots, including Megan Eshleman and Alyssa Lehman who have been training really well and are swimming some really good times, plus proving good leadership. Sofia Pappanastos has been doing a good job of getting the newer swimmers exposed to the meets and I can foresee freshmen Kate Paige and Mary Lacine only getting better and better. Now that we are in the heart of the season, I expect to see even more improvement as it has been amazing what they have been able to do in such a short time.”

“The past few years, our meets with Ball State have been close and we've developed a nice and fun rivalry with them. Ball State is always well prepared and coached by a former EIU swimmer, Bob Thomas, so this is a really exciting way to open the home season and a big boost for the guys this early in the season.”

The Panthers will now have a short time to prepare for two more events this coming week. EIU will travel to Evansville for a 6 pm dual this Wednesday (Oct. 27), followed by a meet up north at Illinois-Chicago at 2 pm on Saturday (Oct. 30).

“We knew that this would be a tough stretch. In fact it has kind of been planned this way, as we wanted some good competition in a short amount of time right off the bat. Means that we must continue to have solid training this week as we prepare for two good teams. I think the squads are only going to continue to get better as the week goes on.”

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID