Courtesy: SIU Athletics
CARBONDALE, Ill. – After dominant performances at last Friday’s Indiana State Tri-Meet, Southern Illinois’ Alex Santiago and Celia Pulido received Missouri Valley Conference Weekly Honors on Wednesday afternoon. Santiago was named the MVC Men’s Swimmer of the Week while Pulido was the conference’s Women’s Swimmer of the Week.
This is Santiago’s fourth Swimmer of the Week award this season. For Pulido, this is her first Swimmer of the Week award of the season.
“It’s great to see both of our returning NCAA Championship qualifiers be recognized for their efforts last Friday,” said head coach Geoff Hanson. “Both Celia and Alex are on track to do exciting things in the coming weeks.”
Santiago helped lead the Salukis’ men’s team to a 155-142 victory over UIndy and a 198-96 win versus Ball State on Friday. The senior collected four first-place finishes throughout the meet, including two event wins and two relay wins. His afternoon started as part of Southern’s 200-yard medley relay team, which took first place with their time of 1:28.88. Santiago then captured an individual gold in the 50-yard freetyle with his race of 19.81; he was the only swimmer at the event to complete the 50-yard freestyle in less than 20 seconds. His other individual first-place result came in the 100-yard freestyle thanks to his time of 44.04. Finally, Santiago helped SIU close out the event atop the podium, anchoring the first-place 400-yard freestyle relay team in the final event of the afternoon.
SIU’s women’s team defeated Indiana State 153-147 and UIndy 215.5-84.5 last Friday, doing so in large part because of Pulido’s dominant afternoon. Pulido captured four gold medals on Friday, winning two individual events and two relays. The senior took part in the first event of the day, helping SIU’s 200-yard medley relay team come in first place after their 1:42.08 race. She then led the pack in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing first with her 54.85 swim. The senior dominated the 200-yard backstroke, with her 1:58.54 time being over three seconds better than the event’s runner-up. Finally, Pulido helped SIU secure victory in the last women’s event of the day, anchoring the squad’s first-place 400-yard free relay team.
More information on the MVC’s weekly awards can be found at mvc-sports.com.
