Southern Illinois at McKendree
- O’Fallon, Illinois
- Oct. 4, 2019
- Men: McKendree 182-112; Women: SIU 203-92
- Results
Courtesy: McKendree Athletics
O’FALLON, Ill.– The McKendree University men’s and women’s swimming and diving program opened up its season on Friday afternoon at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex against Division-I Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The men dominated the visiting Salukis 182-112 and women were defeated 203-92.
The Bearcats will be right back at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex on Oct. 18 as they host another D-I opponent in the University of Evansville.
The meet started off with the 400-yard medley relay. The women’s team of sophomore Abigail Rumpp, junior Molly Smalley, senior Magdalena Knapp, and sophomore Haley Rey combined to take second with a time of 4:09.10. The men’s team of freshmen Davante Carey, John Heaphy, senior Matija Pucarevic, and junior Alexander Skinner took first place with a time of 3:21.86.
Freshman Fabio Dalu and junior Throstur Bjarnason took first and second in the 1000 freestyle. Dalu finished with a time of 9:22.42 and Bjarnason touched the wall in 9:39.41.
Skinner placed first in the 200 freestyle, finishing with a 1:40.95.
S. Rey captured the top spot in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.57.
Heaphy won his first individual event as a Bearcat after touching the wall in 57.01 in the 100 breaststroke.
The 200 butterfly saw the men take the top two spots as Pucarevic and sophomore John Bodden finished with times of 1:54.14 and 1:55.26, respectively.
The Bearcats won the 50 freestyle on both sides as senior Milica Sostarec turned in a 24.05 and sophomore Gregg Lichinsky finished with a 20.63.
In the 100 freestyle, the men took the three top spots. Skinner took first with a 44.70, senior Luca Simonetti placed second with a 46.94, and freshman Caleb Law finished with a 47.00.
S. Rey secured another victory in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:07.50.
The men took first and second in the 500 freestyle with Dalu and Bjarnason taking the top two spots in both distance events. Dalu finished with a 4:34.84 and Bjarnason touched the wall in 4:43.50.
Pucarevic led the way in the 100 butterfly as the men took the top four spots in the event. Pucarevic finished with a 49.28, Lichinsky closed with a 50.86, sophomores Taras Zherebetskyy turned in a 52.40, and Noah Javens finished with a 52.42.
In his first meet as a Bearcat, Dalu set a new school record in the 400 IM, turning in a time of 4:02.97.
The meet closed with wins in the 200 freestyle relay for both teams. The women’s team of Sostarec, S. Rey, H. Rey, and junior Meredith Geyer finished with a 1:37.79. The men’s team of Pucarevic, Lichinsky, Law, and Skinner closed with a 1:22.22.
Courtesy: Southern Illinois Athletics
LEBANON, Ill. — The Southern Illinois swimming and diving program opened the 2019-20 season against McKendree Friday afternoon at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex. The women’s team came out on top 203-92, while the men’s team lost by a margin of 182-112.
Southern won 18 events and finished second in an additional 18 events. The Salukis were led by senior Laura Carver on the women’s side, as she picked up three event wins. Freshman swimmer Adam Cernek won three events to lead the Saluki men. Six Salukis captured two or more wins in the season-opening meet.
“This was my first opportunity to see them compete in outside competition,” head coach Geoff Hanson said. “I was proud of how we used our depth and how the newcomers showed up and raced. The rust was there for a lot of the swimmers because some had not been in real competition since last season, but every time they dove into the pool, they showed adjustments and improved.”
EVENTS WINS
Women’s team
Laura Carver
• 100-breast (1:06.81)
• 200-breast (2:22.57)
• 400-IM (4:32.05)
Baobao Ji
• One-meter dive (286.50)
• Three-meter dive (318.22)
Eden Girloanta
• 500-free (5:08.71)
• 1,000-free (10:26.56)
Sierra Forbord
• 100-free (52.36)
• 200-free (1:53.75)
Payton Parman
• 200-fly (2:09.38)
Rita Naude
• 100-fly (57.35)
Carvalho, Vogt, Young. Rose
• 400-medley relay (3:58.10)
Men’s team
Adam Cernek
• 100-back (50.77)
• 200-back (1:51.22)
• 400-IM (4:02.78)
Kai Hoffmann-Dussome
• One-meter dive (314.40)
• Three meter dive (314.39)
Jimmy Dooley
• 200-breast (2:09.10)
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
Women’s team
Carver, Sierra Forbord, Eden Girloanta and Baobao Ji combined to win nine events to pace the Saluki women.
Carver swam away with first-place finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.81), 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.57) and 400-yard IM (4:32.05). The three wins were a meet-high on the women’s side. Freshman swimmer Sarah Vogt finished second to Carver in both breast events with times of 1:06.97 (100-breast) and 2:27.07 (200-breast). Teammate Payton Parman was runner-up to Carver in the 400-IM (4:43.91).
Girloanta dominated the distance portion of the meet with first-place marks in the 500-yard freestyle (5:08.71) and 1,000-yard freestyle (10:26.56). Juliana Carvalho swam a time of 5:15.96 in the 500-free to finish in second place behind Girloanta. Parman captured her second runner-up finish of the meet in the 1,000-free (11:00.38).
In her first-ever meet as a Saluki, Forbord clocked in winning times of 52.36 in the 100-yard freestyle and 1:53.75 in the 200-yard freestyle. The junior spent her first two seasons with the Colorado Mesa swimming and diving program.
Baobao Ji captured the sweep on the boards with scores of 286.50 in the one-meter dive and 318.22 in the three-meter dive. Beibei Ji scored 286.28 in one-meter and 300.53 in the three-meter to finish second overall to her sister in both events.
SIU pulled off victories in both butterfly events as well. Rita Naude took the top spot in the 100-yard butterfly (57.35), while Parman capped her successful meet with a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.38). Abigail Young placed second in both events with a mark of 59.16 in the 100-fly and 2:10.39 in the 200-fly.
Southern also came away with a victory in the 400-yard medley relay. The quartet of Juliana Carvalho, Sarah Vogt, Young and Jacqueline Rose swam a time of 3:58.10 to outlast McKendree’s top relay team by over 11 seconds.
Men’s team
Cernek shined in his Saluki debut, as he took first in a team-best three events. The freshman earned victories in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events with times of 50.77 and 1:51.22. His third win of the day was in the 400-IM, where he outlasted the closest Bearcat swimmer by .21 seconds.
Seniors Kai Hoffmann-Dussome and Jimmy Dooley also had strong performances for the Salukis.
Hoffmann-Dussome scored 314.40 in the one-meter dive and 314.39 in the three-meter dive to gain individual victories in both events. Dooley won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:09.10) and finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke (59.41). Freshman swimmer Sam Flessner finished behind Dooley in both events, as he took second in the 200-breast (2:10.00) and third in the 100-breast (59.92).
Zheng Yang Yeap (200-free // 1:41.87), Ryan Lehane (200-back // 1:54.70) and Tamas Hajtman (50-free // 21.07) produced runner-up finishes as well.
Southern opened and closed the meet with second-place finishes in relay action. Cernek, Dooley, Uriel Barajas Tejeda and Hajtman had a time of 3:26.69 in the 400-medley relay, while Hajtman, Yeap, Dooley and Matt Ciezczak finished at 1:25.51 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
MORE THOUGHTS FROM COACH HANSON
“The divers proved how valuable they are to our team today. The women’s side finished first through fourth and Kai Hoffmann-Dussome showed how good he is and how much he has improved. With Kai being our lone diver on the men’s side right now, he is going to need to continue to step up and be a good leader.”
“Laura Carver stood out in the pool. She won three events and is one of our key senior leaders. She put in a lot of hard work this summer and it has set her up to do great things in her senior season. Sierra Forbord stood out with two event wins in freestyle events and Rita Naude showed a lot of great things as well.”
“On the men’s side, McKendree is even better than they were last year, so I thought we competed very well with one of the best teams in the nation. Adam Cernek showed a lot as a freshman. He started with two wins in the back events and held on to win the 400-IM against one of the best Division II swimmers in the nation.”
NEXT UP
The Salukis are back in action next Friday, Oct. 11, for their home-opening meet against Valparaiso and Bellarmine. Events at Shea Natatorium will begin at 2:30 p.m.
