Men’s and Women’s seniors earn conference honors

Bill Senese and Marlise Davidson have swam good enough to earn Mid-Continent Conference swimmers of the week. Also, Senese broke his own school record in the 50-yard freestyle, which head coach Ray Padovan said is “almost unheard to have a lifetime best during the middle of the season.”

Davidson said it’s a great honor and it is shocking to her that she has been swimming fast lately.

Senior captain Megan Frawley said Davidson put in a lot of work this summer and it has been nice to see her take a break from rugby and focus on swimming.

“I think that she is going to do amazing things at conference,” Frawley said. “Bill has also stepped it up this year. He is taking on the role of a senior captain.”

Frawley said she thinks as a freshman, Senese needed his senior captain to push him, and now four years later, he is following in those footsteps.

Long layoff should help individual swimmers

Padovan said the winter break would allow the teams to work out on their own or at their former high schools.

Frawley said it is always nice to be able to go home and train with old coaches and teammates.

Sophomore Neil Wahlgren said if any of the swimmers do not swim during the break, it would catch up to them.

“When people go home for break, you gotta go home and swim with your high school or your club team, and if you don’t do that before Florida, your pretty much just going to die when you get to Florida,” Wahlgren said.

Florida meet equivalent to preseason training

Eastern is traveling to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dec. 27 through Jan. 7. The team will have nine days of four-hour training, Padovan said. Senese said if the team trains well during the break, they should be in good shape heading into the rest of the season.

“It will whip you into shape,” Senese said.

Senior Brittany Wininger said that training in Florida is the most critical point in the season because it will help Eastern get ready for the conference meet.

After the Florida trip, Eastern will have four meets to get ready for the conference meet in February, starting with a meet Jan. 12 at Millikin in Decatur.