Heading into the Midwest Classic Championships, Eastern’s swimming coach Ray Padovan said the men needed to swim 90 percent lifetime bests to win. After a three day meet which saw the Panther men lead from wire-to-wire, Padovan received his wish.

“We had more like 99 percent not 90 percent lifetime bests from the men,” Padovan said.

Thanks to those lifetime swims, Eastern tallied 803 team points well ahead of Western Illinois (685) and host Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (505).

Eastern opened a slight 209-183 lead over instate rival Western on day one. The Panthers got off to an impressive start to the Midwest Classics by winning the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of senior Rich Wahlgren, junior Matt Holben, freshman Bill Senese and junior Eric Petersen picked up 40 points for the Panthers when they edged Eastern Michigan for the top spot.

The Panthers continued to win in the relays when Senese and Wahlgren, paired with freshman Tyson Beaman and junior Paul Luttinen won the the 400-yard free again over Eastern Michigan.

While Eastern did not pick up any individual wins on opening day, the Panthers received second-place finishes from Beaman in the 200-yard individual medley and junior Tom Watson in the 500-yard free.

Eastern closed out the first day individual events with three Panthers placing among the top-10 in the 50-yard free. Wahlgren and Senese were third and fifth respectively while junior Eric Petersen finished 10th with a time of 22.01.

Eastern struggled at the onset of day two as their 200-yard medley relay team finished fifth, but the Panthers lost little of their lead as Western placed fourth in the event. Eastern extended their lead after the 200-yard freestyle when Wahlgren and Watson finished one-two in the event and in return handed the Panthers 37 team points. With junior Frank Muchna (seventh-place), freshman Mitch Forney (11th), freshman Joe Wyckoff and sophomore Paul Anderson all finishing in the top 15, Eastern received 22 more team points and was the only school to receive points from five different swimmers.

The Panthers once again closed the day out strong thanks to the relay team, this time in the 800-yard free as Wahlgren, Muchna, Watson and Senese defeated second-place Western Illinois 6:54.72 to 7:02.25. That victory gave Eastern a 502-428 lead over Western Illinois and confidence heading into the final day.

“We were pretty sure after (the events of) day that we could win,” Senese said. ‘The team felt like we had a good chance to win after the first day, but we were pretty certain after the second day.”

Although the Panthers had the momentum there was still enough points available for any of the top three teams to win the “Classics.” With this in mind, the Panthers relied on the veteran Watson to get the team started. The Bloomington native finished in second-place in the lengthy 1650-yard free behind Alex Schultz of Eastern Michigan.

After Watson got the Panthers going, the future of Eastern swimming helped Eastern inch closer to the title. Competing against five upperclassmen in the field, Senese was victorious by more than two seconds over junior Jason Hierman of Western Illinois.

“The meet was very tense with a lot of tough competition,” Senese said.

After “the future” of Eastern swimming came up with a big win, “the present” helped seal the title for the blue and white. Competing in his final individual event, Wahlgren picked up 20 more team points when he defeated Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis speedster A.J. Sparks 46.51 to 47.17.

“I was really happy for him to win in his final meet,” Senese, a high school teammate of Wahlgren at Amos A. Stagg, said. “He’s been like a mentor to me and we’ve had a friendly rivalry all season, so to see him go out as a winner was nice.”

Wahlgren did infact go out as a “winner” when he swam the opening leg of the victorious 400-yard free relay, which Sense, fittingly enough, closed out as the anchor.

“It was exciting to win,” Senese said. “(The win) was really special for me because it was my first year here.”

The Eastern women were unsuccessful in their quest to repeat as Midwest Classic champs when they finished in third place behind Miami of Ohio and Northern Colorado. Senior Jordan Sherbrooke finished her career at Eastern with wins in the 200 and 500-yard free.

“She’s was the core of our team this year,” Padovan said. “Jordan set a bunch of records as a freshman and has been solid all four years. She was named the Most Valuable Swimmer at last year’s Midwest Classic and this year she won two of the three events she competed in.”

Other top swims for the Panthers included freshman Brittany Wininger (second-place) in the 200-yard individual medley and sophomore Jenny Curry (third-place) in the 50-yard free.

“Brittany set a school record in the 200-yard IM despite finishing in second and Jenny Curry swam phenomenal in her swims the competition was just better,” Padovan said.

Looking to next season, the women will lose three seniors to graduation while the men will be without four swimmers on the championship squad. Despite losing Wahlgren and his 23 individual victories Senese believes the Panthers can repeat as champions.

“Yeah, I really think we can repeat.” Senese said. “We have a good group of freshmen, sophomores and juniors returning and we’re bringing in a talented freshmen crew for next year.”