Just a few seconds more.

That was the story for both the men’s and women’s swimming teams.

The outcome of the men’s competition came down to the final event. Eastern was on the edge of victory or defeat up until the last event.

But the Panthers prevailed, beating Mid-Continent opponent Evansville 124-120.

“It came down to last event and we were down by 10 points,” senior Panther swimmer Bill Senese said. “We switched up the lineups though and ended up winning by a tenth of a second in each lane.”

The win leaves the men undefeated by against Mid-Continent opponents this season.

Eastern’s women team had the opposite result and lost 121-120.

The women won 7 out of 13 events, but still came up short of victory.

“Usually when you win over half of the events, you expect to win,” said Eastern head coach Ray Padovan.

By contrast, the men won just five out of 13 events but still earned the victory.

Senese had another strong performance for the Panthers and won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke.

Senese gives a lot of credit to his team for the overall win.

“We are really happy with our performance,” he said. “Everyone did what they needed to do. People really stepped up for us.”

Brittany Wininger performed well and won the 200-yard individual and was on the winning 500-yard freestyle relay team.

Padovan praised freshman Chelsea Hahn for her overall performance as she took first in the 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke.

Hahn was not the only freshman who contributed for the women’s team.

Sarah Jones finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke and helped the women win the event.

Padovan said he was proud of both of his team’s performances.

“We swam pretty well, but you never get 100 percent,” said Padovan.

He said he was taken a little off guard by the Purple Aces teams.

“They swam a lot better than I expected them to,” said Padovan.

Senese was surprised by Evansville’s team and their effort as well.

“Coach said it would be close, but I didn’t think it would be that close,” he said. “But it turned out good for us, we stepped up to the occasion.”

Eastern will host the Panther Invitational next weekend with Lincoln, Lewis, Evansville and Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis coming to Lantz Natatorium.