The Eastern swim squads will embark on their final dual meet road trip of the season as they head to the Hoosier state for a matchup with Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis Friday.

Both the men and women enter the meet on a tear with the men, winners of six consecutive meets, and the women successful in their last three outings. Both IUPUI teams’ have struggled all season long with the men standing at 1-5 and the women winless in all six dual meets.

Despite IUPUI’s men enduring a lackluster season, Panthers head coach Ray Padovan was quick to point out the meet isn’t a cakewalk for Eastern.

“We match up pretty well,” Padovan said. “IUPUI is strong in the sprint and freestyle events but we’re also good in those two areas. IUPUI is solid in diving, but there are other areas where (the Jaguars) are very weak and we are strong and that should be the difference.”

While the Panthers are led by upperclassmen Rich Wahlgren and Tom Watson, the performances of freshmen Bill Senese and Tyson Beaman can’t be overlooked.

Going into this weekend’s dual meet, Senese has 14 individual wins including eight victories in the 50-yard free and three more in the 200-yard back. The Stagg graduate also has been part of 12 relay wins.

Beaman has come on 25 of late for the Panthers helping to solidify the breaststroke crew. The Texan picked up his first collegiate victory against Saint Louis in the 100-yard breast and followed that up with a win in the 200-yard breast the very next meet against Butler. Last week against Valparaiso, Beaman showed versatility with a second-place finish in 200-yard individual medley, an event he normally doesn’t compete in.

Not many would have expected so much success early on from these two freshmen, but Padovan is one of the few who is not surprised by their performances.

“I thought both would play an important role on the team,” Padovan said. “Senese has definitely exceeded expectations, but times (in high school) are times so you do somewhat know what to expect.”

On the women’s side, Eastern should be able to extend their winning streak to a season high four meets but Padovan is cautious of a select few Jaguar swimmers.

“IUPUI has three people that we can’t touch,” Padovan said. “Once you get past those three even though they have more depth, they are weak in many areas.”

One of those swimmers Padovan was referring to is sophomore Lindsay Corn. The Roncalli, Ind., native has the fastest swim of the season for the Jaguars in the 50-yard free with a blazing time of 24.26 on Dec. 5. Corn continued to produce quick times and was named the Mid-Continent Conference Athlete of the Week on Dec. 20, and was selected as the IUPUI Female Student-Athlete of the Month for December.

Corn and the Jaguars are no strangers to Charleston as the team competed in the Panther Invitational back in late October. The Eastern women won the invitational while IUPUI took second place.

Although the Panthers finished ahead of IUPUI four months ago, Padovan said the Jaguars have improved and promised Eastern won’t look past this meet for a regular season-ending showdown with rival Saint Louis on Feb. 7.

“We’re not looking at Saint Louis but conference,” Padovan said. “We’re not worrying about (the Midwest Classic Championships) but we’re preparing for it. We don’t train any different whether we face IUPUI or Saint Louis.”

With three weeks left until the “Classics” Padovan said most of the roster spots for the men and women have been accounted for, but guaranteed a few openings are left if someone impresses.

“About 90 percent of the roster has been finalized, but still one or two spots are open,” Padovan said.