Southern Illinois vs. Valparaiso, Bellarmine
- Oct. 11, 2019
- Carbondale, Illinois
- Men: SIU def. Bellarmine 200-59; SIU def. Valparaiso 213-48
- Women: SIU def. Bellarmine 177-84; SIU def. Valparaiso 206.5-54.5
- Results
Courtesy: Southern Illinois Athletics
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams pulled off sweeps against the Bellarmine Knights and Valparaiso Crusaders on Friday afternoon inside Shea Natatorium. The women defeated Bellarmine, 177-84, and Valpo in a 206.5–54.5 final. On the men’s side, the Salukis beat the Knights, 200-59, and Valpo, 213-48.
Southern won 28 out of 32 total events en route to dominating team victories in the home opener. Thirteen Salukis placed first in an individual event. An additional nine Salukis won two or more events.
“It was good to get a sweep on both sides today,” head coach Geoff Hanson said. “We had a goal to win every event and we dropped a couple, but that is okay. Those were two good teams. Valpo is Division I and Bellarmine is about to turn Division I. I was happy with how we raced and I told the team before and after that it is less about the times and more about the execution. We saw some progression with the execution that I am happy with.”
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
Women’s team
Laura Carver led the Salukis with a team-best three individual event wins for the second-straight meet to open the 2019-20 season. The senior demonstrated her versatility in the pool, as she swam to first-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.26), 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.11) and 200-yard individual medley (2:10.33). She also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.76.
Senior teammate Samantha Parsons finished runner-up to Carver in the 200-breast (2:22.78) and 200-IM (2:13.42).
Deven Speed, Eden Girloanta and Baobao Ji also impressed with two individual victories each.
Speed earned the sweep in backstroke events. She claimed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a mark of 58.99 and swam 2:08.79 in the 200-yard backstroke. Juliana Carvalho took second place to Speed in both events with times of 59.91 in the 100-back and 2:10.16 in the 200-back.
Girloanta claimed first in the 500-yard freestyle (5:12.24) and 1,000-yard freestyle (10:34.51). The wins were her third and fourth of the season. Girloanta was .57 seconds shy of another third victory in the 200-free, where she ended third overall at 2:00.01.
In diving action, Ji swept the competition with personal-best scores of 319.35 and 326.40. The senior has won all four diving events she has competed in this season and has already matched her win total (4) from last season.
Senior swimmers Payton Parman and Rita Naude also added wins.
Parman won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:08.09, while Naude sprinted to victory in the 50-yard freestyle (24.48).
Southern opened and closed the home meet with first-place finishes in relay action. Speed, Sarah Vogt, Naude and Hannah Petrone teamed up to win the 200-yard medley relay (1:47.76) by a .09 second margin over Bellarmine. The relay team of Naude, Jacqueline Rose, Abigail Young and Petrone claimed first in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:38.96).
Men’s team
Adam Cernek, the reigning MAC Swimmer of the Week, produced another standout performance in the pool. The freshman won by a margin of three seconds or more in each race. He swept the field in backstroke events with times of 50.18 in the 100-back and 1:49.56 in the 200-back. The Turany, Slovakia native added a third win in the 200-IM (1:54.29).
Kevin Kluge, Zheng Yang Yeap and Tamas Hajtman came away with multiple wins in the sweeps over Bellarmine and Valpo.
Kluge dominated the distance events, as he won the 500-free (4:47.20) and 1,000-free (9:45.77). Freshman Ian Marshall posted times of 4:47.20 and 9:58.10 in the 500 and 1,000-free to place second in both races.
Yeap sprinted his way to wins in the 100- and 200-freestyle events with marks of 46.57 and 1:42.72. He also swam the final leg for both winning relay teams. The quartet of Cernek, Jimmy Dooley, Hajtman and Yeap won the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:33.37. In the final event of the meet, the team of Matt Ciezczak, Dooley, Hajtman and Yeap finished first at 1:26.43.
Along with being apart of two relay victories, Hajtman produced winning performances in the 50-free (21.69) and 100-yard butterfly (51.58).
Dooley and Marshall earned individual wins for the men’s team as well.
After coming up short with a second-place finish in the 100-breast, Dooley managed to take first in the 200-breast with an impressive mark of 2:08.31.
Marshall tallied his first-collegiate win in the 200-fly with a time of 1:59.21.
MORE THOUGHTS FROM COACH HANSON
On first meet experience at Shea Natatorium…
“It was good. There was great support and a lot of energy from our team and the folks in the stands. There is nothing quite like swimming in your own pool. No matter what kind of pool you have at home, you always want to swim well and defend it.”
On getting better throughout the season…
“I have no question that these kids will work hard. It now comes down to focusing on the smaller details that can get lost when you are training really hard. We try and focus on that often. We have a big meet against Illinois and Illinois State next week and we want to swim well there. So now we will start thinking and preparing for that.”
NEXT UP
Southern will be back in action next Thursday, Oct. 17, in a women’s only tri-meet against Illinois and Illinois State.
Courtesy: Bellarmine Athletics
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Bellarmine University swimming teams competed Friday in a tri-dual meet at Southern Illinois.
The Knights squads joined Southern Illinois and Valparaiso, a pair of Division I opponents, in the meet. Team scores were not counted for Bellarmine versus Valparaiso — only Bellarmine versus Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso versus Southern Illinois.
Southern Illinois topped Bellarmine’s women 177-84 and the Knights men 200-59. The Salukis defeated the Valparaiso women and men 206.5-54.5 and 213-48, respectively.
On the women’s side, sophomore Rachel Walker won a pair of events, placing first in the 100 freestyle (53.70) by over a second and the 100 butterfly (58.36). She was also the runner-up in the 1000 freestyle.
Junior Sophia Noren took top honors in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.52). Senior Grace Roegner notched a second in the 50 freestyle while sophomore Maya Sorensen placed third in the 100 backstroke, as did sophomore Avery Witcher in the 200 butterfly, freshman Olivia Hopper in the 200 backstroke and sophomore Meghann McLaughlin in the 500 freestyle.
Sorensen, Noren, Walker and Roegner were defeated by a whisker in the 200 medley relay in delivering a runner-up finish.
On the men’s side, junior Ty Grubb captured the gold in the 100 breaststroke (58.18) and the silver in the 200 breaststroke. Senior Evan Shive posted runner-up finishes in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Sophomore Daniel Sims tallied a second in the 200 individual medley and freshman Jacob Dray a third in the 200 butterfly.
Of the Knights women, Coach John Brucato said, “Coming off a challenging training week, I’m fairly pleased with our races, but looking for a little more grit and determination going into our next competition this coming Friday with Butler.”
Of the Knights men, he said, “We have some rising potential, but we need everyone firing on all pistons to pull off more wins and score points.”
The Knights will compete Friday against Butler at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis.
Courtesy: Valparaiso Athletics
Valparaiso University men’s and women’s swimming teams continued early action in the 2019-20 season on Friday afternoon in a tri-meet at Southern Illinois University against the Salukis and Bellarmine University.
How It Happened
- Freshman Brian Daniels (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East) had another impressive performance early in his Valpo career, finishing third in the 1000 freestyle, clocking a time of 10:09.12.
- Sophomore Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./ Ventura) was another top performer for the Brown and Gold, placing third in the 100 freestyle (48.33).
- In his second career meet, freshman Ethan Johnson (Ames Iowa/Ames) posted another quality finish, recording a time of 1:59.82 in the 200 backstroke to finish third overall.
- Senior Paige Wright (Surprise Ariz./Paradise Honors) was a top performer on the women’s side. She recorded a third-place finish in the 1000 free, stopping the clock at 10:57.37.
- Freshman Morgan Markley (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell) placed third in the 50 free in her second-ever meet for Valpo, clocking a time of 25.10.
- The highest finish for Valpo on the day was in the women’s 200 free relay for the team of Markley, sophomore Chiara Robinson (Castle Pines, Colo./Rock Canyon), senior Erica Martins (Hartland, Wis./Lake County Lutheran) and Wright as they recorded a time of 1:41.71, good for a second-place finish.
Up Next
Valpo will again hit the road next weekend as it travels to West Lafayette on Saturday, Oct. 19 for the Indiana Intercollegiates. The event is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. CT.
