Consistency has been the focus for the Panthers all season.

Including sophomore Laura Nilsen.

Nilsen is versatile because she can compete in the medley and free relays if needed.

The Panthers will count on Nilsen as the Eastern men’s and women’s swim teams will go up against Valparaiso at 1 p.m. Saturday in Valparaiso, Ind.

She also competes in the backstroke, freestyle and the individual medley.

Last Friday, Nilsen won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke and was the leadoff leg off the 200-yard medley relay.

“(Nilsen’s) consistency has helped us tremendously,” senior Jen Beresheim said. “We can count on her for points. She can go on any relay (team) and get points. She’s helped our team a lot. Her consistency helps when we don’t want to swim but she swims a lot. She’ll get a medal in conference and is (not only) a swimmer to look out for, but also a swimmer that a lot of other teams know.”

Nilsen’s season best 100-yard backstroke time (1 minute, 1.01 seconds) from the beginning of the season at the Panther Invitational is faster than Valparaiso’s freshman Becky Crabtree’s, who holds a 1:02.34 as her season best time.

Nilsen, who battled a knee injury last year, won the 200-yard backstroke event by nine seconds last season against the Crusaders.

“She’s a real talented swimmer, and she’s swam some good times,” Padovan said. “We’ve been terrible. We’ve been getting pretty thin, but we have some tip-top individuals. She’s good and versatile, she’s swam good in all of her events and is one of the few who have been great for us, as well as (senior) Patty Young, (sophomore) Lauren Zillmer and (senior) Jen Beresheim, who has yet to come around a bit on butterfly.”

Nilsen has been one of the consistent point scorers for the women’s team (1-6). She had three first-place victories against Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis. She picked up a win against Illinois-Chicago, Evansville and five first-place victories at the Panther Invitational.

The Orland Park native was the only Eastern female swimmer to win an event against Western Illinois on Nov. 10. She won the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke.

The meet will be evenly matched, as the men’s and women’s Crusaders team records are 2-8 and 0-9 in comparison to Eastern’s team records of 3-4 and 1-6.

During the last year, Eastern swept Valparaiso with scores of 138-94 for the women and 141-75 on the men’s side.

“Last year, we were a better team than them,” Lauren Zillmer said. “We hope to do the same thing and beat them this year. We’re hoping to come out with our best times at the meet.”

The Crusaders have a young women’s team, while the men’s team compares to how both of Eastern’s teams are built – although Eastern has more team depth.

“We’re a lot deeper than they are,” senior Nick Scarpetta said. “We’ve beaten them in years past and we have a lot of good freshmen to step up, so hopefully it will be a good meet for us.”

The Crusaders are operating under an interim head coach in Barbara Tyree as former head coach Bryan Morrison announced his resignation Jan. 4. The team continues on with a strong class of freshmen and sophomores on the women’s team, but the men don’t stack up well against Eastern’s depth.

“The interim (coach) has been with the program. In the past, depth-wise, the men have had tip-top individuals, but we have more depth than they do,” said Eastern head swimming coach Ray Padovan. “In the past, they have some decent women and their women are all really solid. We’re getting a little thin, and their strength is the sprint freestyle. We can’t get hurt too bad there in the distance freestyle, so we want to be close to them in that event. We’re stronger in the medley relays, but I haven’t seen much of them.”

This meet will be a test for Eastern, as it hasn’t faced much competition in more than a month – since Millikin was a bit of a pushover last weekend.

The Panthers are moving forward to the conference meet in the final weeks.

“Without cutting down on rest, we need to get faster,” Padovan said. “We went through a low level of competition. We need to show that we’re better. Our rest stops after the conference meet.”