The positive results were not good enough for Eastern head coach Ray Padovan, who thinks his team should have done better this weekend in a dual meet at Valparaiso.

“It was kind of a sluggish meet for us,” said Padovan. “I think it was more mental, we didn’t go in with the right mental attitude thinking it was easier than it was.”

Despite the sluggish performance, the men won 145-68 and the women won 139-92 against the Crusaders on Saturday.

The Panthers were coming off a meet against Millikin on Jan. 14 at Lantz, with the Eastern men defeating the Big Blue 111-68 and the women won 121.75-78.5.

“I think we swam a lot better against Millikin than Valparaiso,” Padovan said. “We came in real flat and they beat us in several places. It was a bit of a wake up call for us.”

Regardless of where their heads were at, the Panthers were in first place for many races and had some standout performances.

Freshman Kevin Boyle swam well against Millikin two weeks ago, and he continued that strong swimming with a win in the 100-meter freestyle and a second place finish in the 200-meter freestyle.

Junior Bill Senese missed the Millikin meet with the flu but was his usual self at Valparaiso with wins in the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter backstroke. Boyle and Senese combined with juniors Jason Warner and Chris Pontecore for a winning time of 1:40.34 in the 200-meter medley relay.

The standout for the women was senior Claire Garvey. She won both the 400-meter individual medley and the 500-meter freestyle. If two wins aren’t impressive enough, Garvey’s success comes with not being able to practice with the team this semester. She is in Springfield completing an internship for her physical education major in order to graduate in May. Garvey didn’t even travel with the team, having her mom drive her to the meet at Valparaiso and meeting up with the team there.

“I send her workouts everyday and she is tough,” said Padovan. “I can trust her to do them and stay honest,”

Coach Padovan is confident that a change of environment and better competition will get his team re-focused for Thursday’s away meet at IUPUI.

“They have a much bigger, nicer pool than Valpo,” said Padovan. “It won’t be easy anymore.”

The Panthers have a short practice week and they travel to IUPUI to take on the Jaguars. They will have lighter practices Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for IUPUI.

The team also drops their morning practice this week for the rest of the season in order to regain some strength and endurance for the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament in three weeks.