“As a team, it was the worst we’ve performed all year.”

That was the initial reaction Eastern head coach Ray Padovan had to the results of the two-day House of Champions meet hosted by Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis.

The women’s team finished in seventh place of eight teams with 198 points, while the men’s team finished in last place of seven teams with 361 points.

Ball State took first place in both men’s and women’s competitions, scoring 795 in the women’s competition and 783 in the men’s.

Last season, the men’s team placed in third, and the women’s placed in fourth.

Padovan said the results were not what he expected them to be.

“We didn’t have any great expectations,” he said. “But I didn’t think we would perform as poorly as we did. We never responded.”

Assistant coach Kim Fischer agreed with her coach’s assessment of the weekend.

“Overall, that’s not how we expected to finish,” Fischer said. “But a big difference from last season is there were two new schools. They were Division I and have more scholarships.”

Wisconsin-Green Bay was a new team at the meet this season.

Fischer said some of the schools have fully funded programs and bigger training facilities, which also played a part in the weekend results.

No Panthers finished with a first or second finish for the meet. Senior diver Joe Laird placed fourth of 14 spots in the men’s 1-meter with 269.75 points.

But both Padovan and Fischer agreed though the meet was disappointing, there were some positive outcomes.

“Well, there were some good swims,” Padovan said. “Three or four swimmers swam season bests – but 40 or so didn’t.”

Fischer said she sees this as an opportunity to judge where the team is now.

“It was an eye opener,” she said. “We need to work over Christmas break.”

Padovan said the team will work hard in practice and is encouraging his swimmers to work hard during the break.

He said the Panthers will travel to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for their annual training trip, but it is important for the swimmers to practice on their own.

The trip will last from Dec. 27 to Jan. 5.

Sophomore Emily Immel said she believes the team will take Padovan’s advice, especially after this past week’s performance at the House of Champions.

“I think everyone will work hard,” she said. “Coming off the (Thanksgiving) break, we need to take the initiative to practice hard.”

Padovan said when the Panthers return from break and the Ft. Lauderdale trip, he considers it to be a reset of the season.

He said the second-half of the season is more important than the first, and he thinks the Panthers will be ready for it.

The Panthers will host Millikin at 5 p.m. Jan. 11 at Lantz Natatorium.