With Eastern, a school hungry for championships, the next two weeks will be as important as any for the Panther athletic program. Forget about the Ohio Valley Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournament, the best chance Eastern has to hoist a trophy will come from the swimming and track programs.

The swimmers will get the opportunity first, as Ray Padovan and co. will travel to Indianapolis for the Midwest Classic Championships beginning this Thursday. The Panthers have been waiting for this meet all season long and both squads appear to be peaking at the right time.

The men will head to IUPUI-Natatorium as one of the favorites after a regular season, which saw the Panthers go 9-2 and finish the year with an eight-meet winning streak. While Padovan said wins and losses aren’t important, it’s the swimmers’ times which truly matter, one can’t overlook the beating Eastern put on Midwest Classic opponents Butler (117-86), IUPUI (178-118) and Valparaiso (156-69).

After a disappointing season last year, when the Panthers went 6-4-1 and finished a distant fourth at the “Classics,” revenge will certainly be on the minds of the Eastern swimmers. Not to mention, senior Rich Wahlgren would love to win a championship in his last meet in the blue and white. Wahlgren has been outstanding all year with 21 individual wins, and the Palos Heights native proved he is a big meet swimmer when he won two races on senior day against Saint Louis.

If Wahlgren needs any help, you can bet his roommate, Tom Watson, will come to the rescue. Watson has been dominating in the distance events and recently capped off a 19-win season with victories in the 500 and 1000-free against the Billikens.

Can the Panthers make it a sweep with the men on the brink of their second Midwest Classic victory in three years, and the women repeating as champions? While the women won’t be the pick of many to win, place or show, it’s tough to overlook what Eastern has accomplished over the last two months.

After a 1-5 start, the Panthers turned things around to finish the year 5-6 overall. Padovan saw the times drop for many swimmers toward the end of the year and equally important was the performance of sophomore Jenny Curry against Saint Louis.

Stuck in a sophomore slump, Curry broke out in a big way with a win in the 100-free and a second-place finish in the 200-free. Curry also took part in the winning 400-free relay swimming the second leg. When Curry was at her best last year, Eastern was tough to beat and it was proved when the Panthers won the “Classics” in 2003. Despite

SEE GILBERT u Page 11

struggling at times this season the Panthers will still head to Indianapolis as the defending champions.

Switching gears, the track and field squads will get their chance to shine in two weeks when they host the OVC Indoor Championships at Lantz Fieldhouse. While the indoor season always seems to take a back seat to the outdoor competition don’t tell that to Jacob Stout and Justin Smith.

Both sophomores were named OVC Athletes of the Week for their performance at Indiana on Feb. 10th. Stout won the mile run against competition from all over, including athletes from Big Ten schools, and Smith set a new OVC season-best in the triple jump with a distance of 46’01.25.

The men have a nice mix of talent spread throughout the entire roster and appear on the verge of their seventh title in eight years.

The men may be the stronger team but Eastern’s women are certainly the flashier team. There is one reason why and her name is Alicia Harris. One of the top three athletes walking this campus today, Harris has destroyed the old Eastern school records in the sprint events this year. The junior has already broken three indoor marks this season, but more important to Harris is winning her first OVC Indoor title.

Beyond Harris in the sprints the Panthers may be a little thin, but the team adds depth in the distance with Angie Simone and Nicole Flounders in the mile and Ronesha Franklin anchoring the specialty events. The competition will be tough with Southeast Missouri and Austin Peay returning solid crews, but the home cooking should do wonders for the Panthers.

If you’re disappointed with the seasons turned in by the attention grabbing basketball squads, the performances about to be turned in by four unheralded teams over the next two weeks should make everyone proud to be a Panther.