Losing to a rival hurts and Eastern experienced the sting twice after losing to Mid-Continent Conference opponent Western Illinois on Saturday.

The Panthers men’s team fell 130-111, while the women’s team fell 167-70.

Head coach Ray Padovan said he didn’t feel the team swam well.

“We came up real flat,” Padovan said. “We weren’t as good as we were last week.”

Padovan thought the men’s team hung around and had a chance in the meet.

“Overall, it was a winnable meet,” Padovan said.

He gave credit to Western’s performance, whose team finished with 15 first place finishes.

“This was a big meet for them. I take nothing away from them,” Padovan said. “They just plain beat us, even though we didn’t swim very well.”

The Panthers came into Western confident after their win at the Panther Invitational.

“We were motivated and pumped up going into Western,” junior Breanna Hardy said. “We never gave up and never stopped cheering for each other.”

But the Panthers may have been tired going into the meet.

“We were still recovering from the Panther Invite,” Hardy said.

Senior Bill Senese also said the team might have been tired.

“The guys might have been tired, but we’re making no excuses,” he said.

Padovan found some bright spots out of the meet. He made special mention to some of his swimmers.

Freshman Chelsie Hahn won the 200-yard breaststroke.

Sophomore Brent Noble won the 200-yard medley and the 200-yard breaststroke and Pat LeNeave placed first with the 200-yard butterfly.

LeNeave said he felt good about this performance, but was more focused on the team effort.

“We were coming back towards the end,” LeNeave said. “We were upset about the loss, but placing first and second in the 400-yard medley was big for us.”

Senese said the team was disappointed, but felt they were in it.

“If our depth would have been better, we might have won this meet,” he said.

But Senese also said that he thinks this loss might help motivate the team.

“Sometimes a loss like this can snap you into a realization,” he said. “This is no walk in the park. We have to do better.”

The women’s team also will use the loss to revitalize themselves.

“We’re going to boost up our energy from the loss and take it into St. Louis and try to come out winners at the end,” Hardy said.

The Panthers will next travel to swim against St. Louis on Thursday.