BOWLING GREEN, Ky.— The Western Kentucky University swimming and diving team returns to the pool this weekend to take on Cincinnati on Saturday, Nov. 9 with diving beginning at 10 a.m. CT and swim events at noon CT in Cincinnati.
Admission is free to the Keating Aquatics Center while fans not able to make it can watch the match live on BearcatsTV via gobearcats.com.
“At this point of the year, we are very encouraged by what we have seen, especially from our newcomers because you never know how much they are going to contribute until they step on campus,” said WKU head coach Bruce Marchionda. “That learning curve tends to be pretty quick for them. That’s a very positive thing.”
The Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers are coming off a tough loss to Big Ten opponent Northwestern in its second meet of the year, but gained positives from the meet, including junior Claire Conlon posting the fastest time in Conference USA in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, as she stays undefeated the events this season.
“She just continues to have a great year,” Marchionda said. “She dedicated her summer to staying here and trying to get better, and that seems to really be paying off for her. She is just really coming along and maturing as a swimmer. She came off a great year last season and is using that as motivation to get her to a higher level. So far she is putting up times that are well ahead of last year, so we are hoping she continues that. Cincinnati has great breaststrokers that will test her, so that will be fun to watch and see. Again, there is not a harder worker in the pool than Claire so it is great to see her hard work pay off.”
Both Cincinnati squads are 1-1 in dual meets this season and have a second-place finish at the West Virginia University Invite against WVU, Villanova and James Madison. The Bearcats opened the year with a win over Xavier before falling in its most recent meet against Virginia Tech.
“It will be a great test for us,” Marchionda said. “Their women’s team is very, very good and very competitive in the American Athletic Conference. They will give us everything we can handle. On the men’s side, they are also very good and will test us to see if we can get up in this particular time of the year.
“We have hit the last two weeks very hard in training, so they are tired and beat down a little bit. It will be good to see if they can get up and swim fast when they are tired and be competitive with a great Cincinnati team.”
After the Cincinnati meet, WKU returns to Bill Powell Natatorium for the Hilltopper Invite on Nov. 21-23.
For all the latest news and information on WKU swimming and diving, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program on Twitter via @WKUSwimDive and @WKUSwimInfo and by liking the team on Facebook through WKU Swimming and Diving.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of Western Kentucky University.
