Truman State vs Southern Illinois vs McKendree
- Saturday, October 21st
- McKendree University, Lebanon, IL
- Short course yards
- Results
Team Scores
Men
- SIU: 158 – Truman State: 130
- SIU: 161 – McKendree: 134
- McKendree: 171.5 – Truman State: 118.5
Women
- SIU: 228 – McKendree: 74
- SIU: 238 – Truman State: 70
- Truman State: 145 – McKendree: 129
The Southern Illinois University men and women beat both McKendree University and Truman State University at a tri meet hosted by McKendree on Saturday, October 21st. SIU’s Bryn Handley won the 200 and 500 free. Handley’s winning 200 free time of 1:50.94 ranks as her 7th fastest 200 free ever, and her fastest dual/tri meet performance. Her winning 500 time of 4:56.74 also ranks as her fastest performance ever at a dual/tri meet.
McKendree had several swimmers crack the NCAA D2 top 10 in individual races. Matija Pucarevic won the men’s 100 and 200 fly, going times of 49.76 and 1:52.03, which rank 8th and 5th in the nation, respectively. Xander Skinner won the men’s 200 free with a 1:41.26, which ranks 7th nationally. Karlie Rimat took the women’s 400 IM in a close race, finishing in a time of 4:30.62, which ranks 2nd nationally.
Press Release – SIU:
The Southern Illinois Men’s and Women’s swimming and diving teams both pulled off sweeps in today’s tri-meet against Truman State and McKendree. The women defeated McKendree 228-74 and Truman State 238-70. On the men’s side, the Salukis beat Truman State 158-130 and McKendree 161-134.
The Salukis were dominant in the pool all day, but perhaps where the team was most successful was in the diving portion of the meet. Southern’s divers won all four events and logged five scores that place Salukis inside the top-50 in the nation.
On the Men’s side, sophomore Eli Mercado set personal bests in both the one and three-meter dive. In the three-meter, Mercado’s score of 345.52 gave him a 159.75-point victory over McKendree’s Thad Zuber. The score is currently the 43rd best in the NCAA.
On the women’s side in the three-meter, three of Southern’s four divers set new personal bests. Beibei ji won the event with a score of 315.38, her twin sister, Baobao Ji was second with a score of 307.65. Beibei’s score currently ranks 26th in the nation and Baobao’s is 34th in the NCAA. Rachel Williams was third with a score of 269.01 and Lani Cieszynski was fourth with a 224.02, a new personal best for the sophomore.
In the one-meter dive, the Salukis were just as successful. Mercado’s score of 340.27 is good for 33rd in the NCAA and was personal best. On the Women’s side, Beibei Ji and Williams both set personal bests with their 1-2 finish. Beibei’s score of 299.77 is currently 20th in the nation and Williams 276.45 beat her previous personal best by 14.4 points. Baobao Ji was third and Cieszynski was fourth.
In the pool, Southern’s women enjoyed a very successful day thanks in part to senior Bryn Handleyand sophomores Sam Parsons and Rita Naude. Handley swept all four of the events she competed in. On an individual basis, Handley won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 150.94, nearly four seconds faster that Southern’s previous best 200-yard freestyle time this season. Junior Jordan Ries was third in the race. She was also first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.74. Southern’s senior, Nicole Fuller, was second with a time of 5:12.09.
Handley also helped two relay teams to victories. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Handley, Ries, senior McKenna Avery and sophomore Maggie Burke were first with a time of 3:34.70. The team of Naude, Fuller, senior Kelsie Walker and senior Chandler Ott were second in the race. In the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Handley, Naude, Parsons and junior Emma Brazeau were first with a time of 1:48.85. The team of Avery, Carvalho, junior Abby Kresal and freshman Abbie Young took third in the race.
The Salukis dominated the breaststroke events on the women’s side. Parsons, Kresal and sophomore Laura Carver swept the top-three spots in both races. In the 100-yard breaskstroke, Parsons took first with a time of 1:07.50, Carver and Kresal were second and third respectively. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Parsons took first yet again with a time of 2:24.33. Carver and Kresal were second and third respectively again.
In the 400-yard IM, Carver took second with a time of 4:31.10. Parsons was third in the race.
For Naude, she added to her first and second place finishes in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay with a first and second in individual races. Naude won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.56. In the 100-yard butterfly, junior Emma Brazeau was first with a time of 57.66, Nuade was not far behind her in second, just four one-hundredths of a second slower.
In the women’s 1000-yard freestyle, Walker notched her first victory of the season with a time of 10:31.69. Fuller was second in the race.
Junior Audrey Snyder earned Southern a victory in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.64 for the fastest Saluki time in the event this season.
Carvalho had a solid day for the Salukis as well. She won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:05.10 to beat the previous best Saluki time of the season by two seconds.
On the men’s side, freshman Sam Drew continued a strong start to his Saluki career with two victories in the breaststroke. Drew’s time of 57.96 earned him his first victory of his young career. Sophomore Chris Phillips and freshman Kyle Berquist rounded out the top-three for Southern. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Drew swam the event in 2:06.02 for the fastest Saluki time of the season by more than four seconds. Phillips and Berquist were first and second to round out the top-three for Southern in both breaststrokes.
Drew also helped the Salukis to a win in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Drew, Phillips, senior Alex Crawford and sophomore Benson Jones swam the race in a time of 1:35.68 for the 106th fastest time in the NCAA this season.
Crawford also earned two wins in the meet. The first came in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:51.17 besting his previous time of 1:52.77 for a new season-best for Southern. The Saluki senior’s time in the race is currently 107th in the NCAA.
Crawford was also first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.50. Sophomore Ryan Lehanewas third in race with a time of 52.83. Crawford helped Southern to a third place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Crawford, Jones, junior Reilly Garman and senior Michael Wolfeswam the race in a time of 3:11.09. It is the fastest time in the race for Southern this season. Southern’s time ranks 97th in the NCAA this season.
In the 1,000-yard freestyle, junior Chris Cole set a new fastest time for Southern with a time of 9:33.83 for his first event win of the year. Sophomore Kevin Kluge was second in the race with a time of 9:35.93. Cole was third in the 500-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:42.15. He also logged a second place finish in the 200-yard IM with a time of 4:07.04.
Senior Michael Wolfe returned to competitive action in the meet. He took fifth place in the 400-yard freestyle. Wolfe has been rehabbing an injury throughout the early part of the season.
Southern will be back in action next weekend when the Saluki women’s team take on Illinois and Illinois State on Saturday. The men will be back in action on November third when both teams host Kentucky, Missouri and Northwestern at home.
Press Release – McKendree:
(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 21) – The McKendree University men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams hosted their second home meet in program history on Saturday afternoon. The teams played host to Southern Illinois University – Carbondale and Truman State University. The men defeated Truman State but fell to Southern Illinois. The women fell to both Truman State and Southern Illinois.
McKendree competed against NCAA Division I opponent Southern Illinois University – Carbondale and fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opponent on Saturday at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex. Truman State currently holds the No. 8 spot in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Women’s Division II Top 25 Poll.
Men’s Scores
McKendree: 171.5 – Truman State: 118.5
Southern Illinois: 161 – McKendree: 134
Southern Illinois: 158 – Truman State: 130
Women’s Scores
Truman State: 145 – McKendree: 129
Southern Illinois: 228 – McKendree: 74
Southern Illinois: 238 – Truman State: 70
Men’s Swimming & Diving
The McKendree men’s swimming & diving team grabbed seven first place finishes on the day including the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. The relay team of junior Daniel Buijs (Amersfoot, Netherlands), sophomore Matthew Meals (McKinney, TX/McKinney Boyd High School), sophomore Luca Simonetti (Sassari, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Gulielmo Marconi Sassari), and sophomore Matija Pucarevic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sixth Belgrade Grammar School) took first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:35.04. The 400 freestyle relay team of Pucarevic, Simonetti, freshman Tyler Morris (Edwardsville, IL), and freshman Alexander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School) took first with a time of 3:06.83.
Pucarevic earned a first place finish in every event that he competed in on the day, including the relay events, the 100 butterfly and the 200 butterfly. Skinner continued to make his mark, earning three first place finishes on the day and one second place finish. He swam to first place finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyle events as well as the 400 freestyle relay. Freshman Throstur Bjarnason (Reykjanesbær, Iceland) took a first place finish in the 500 freestyle and placed third in the 1000 freestyle.
Sophomore diver Thad Zuber (Lubbock, TX/Lubbock High School) placed second in both the three-meter and one-meter diving events. Zuber posted a score of 185.77 in the three-meter diving event, and a score of 259.49 in the three-meter diving event.
Women’s Swimming & Diving
The women’s swimming & diving team took three first place finishes and four second place finishes on Saturday. Sophomore swimmer Milica Sostarec (Subotica, Serbia/Medical High School) came out flying taking first place in both of her individual events including the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Freshman Karlie Rimat(Stanwood, WA/Stanwood High School) took first place in the 400 Individual Medley with a time of 4:30.62, which is just 0.05 seconds off pace from an NCAA B qualifying standard time. Rimat took second in her other event, the 200 butterfly. Freshman swimmer Meredith Geyer (Germantown, TN/Germantown High School)continued to impress taking second place in all three of her individual events, including the 200 freestyle, the 50 freestyle, and the 200 backstroke.
Junior diver Taryn Metzler (Muskegon, MI/Grand Haven High School) competed in the one-meter dive on Saturday, taking fifth place with a score of 170.63.
McKendree swimming & diving is back in action at the University of Indianapolis for the UIndy Invitational on November 3rd and 4th.
Press Release – Truman State:
LEBANON, Ill. – The Truman State University men’s and women’s swimming teams hit the road for the first time this season on Saturday in a tri-meet featuring the Bulldogs, host McKendree and Division I Southern Illinois. On the men’s side, Truman fell to the Salukis, 158-130, and the Bearcats, 171.5-118.5. For the women, they lost to Southern Illinois, 238-70, but defeated homestanding McKendree, 145-129.
Starting with the men, they won two events including the 50 free and 400 IM. Sam Heveroh and Will Shanel took home those titles with times of 21.37 and 4:05.60, respectively. As far as second- and third-place finishes, Truman achieved such honors six times and two times, respectively.
The Bulldogs were the second-best finisher in two events including the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay. In the medley relay, it was Riley Brown, Mark Franz, Caleb Kruse, and Sam Heveroh with a time of 1:35.18. In the free relay, the four swimmers were Lliot Gieseke, Jack McCormick, JT Thayer (pictured), and Heveroh with a mark of 3:10.02.
The other four second-place showings for the men included Heveroh in the 200 free (1:41.90), Will Shanel in the 200 fly (1:56.92), Gieseke in the 100 free (47.39), and Thayer in the 500 free (4:41.12). As far as third-place finishes, Austin Mayer did so in the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.57 and Jack McKenzie did so in the 100 fly with a mark of 53.04.
The women didn’t take home any titles, but secured a second-place finish in two events and a third-place showing in four of them. In second was the 200 medley relay (Grace Fodor, Natalie Galluzzo, Libby Opfer, and Nikki Sisson) with a time of 1:49.73 as well as the 100 free (N. Sisson) with a mark of 53.48.
In third place was Jasmine Roghair in the 1000 free (10:43.32), Roghair in the 500 free (5:14.25), Opfer in the 200 fly (2:10.17), and Maggie Hickey in the 100 fly (58.12).
Next up, both Truman squads will be at William Jewell on Saturday, Nov. 4 with the action set to begin at 1 p.m. from Liberty, Mo.
