Ray Padovan will coach his last meet as Eastern head men’s and women’s swimming coach at noon Saturday at Lantz Natatorium.

Padovan announced in December he would retire in June from the position he’s held the past 42 years.

Not only will this meet be Padovan’s last home meet, but also this will be the last home meet for the seniors on the team. The mood could only be described as bittersweet headed into this weekend’s meet against Saint Louis.

“It’s going to be bittersweet; it’s Ray’s last meet and the seniors’ last meet,” sophomore Emily Immel said. “It will be good to see where we’re at in our season. We’re happy it’s right before conference but we’re sad to see the seniors go.”

But those are the same swimmers who will be affected by Padovan’s departure the most.

“It is a real big deal for the senior guys and girls,” senior Patty Young said. “We want to do well and make him proud. He’s been so influential on me. It’s sad thinking about it. It will be hard to keep up with (Saint Louis), but we’ll do real well.”

Saint Louis beat the men’s and women’s teams, with scores of 148-80 and 171-68, on Nov. 15.

“We haven’t beat Saint Louis in a long time,” junior Brent Noble said. “The score isn’t ever very close, but I think we can surprise ourselves with the meet. Everyone is going to be training hard for their specific event. Saint Louis is tough right across the board, but hopefully, everybody is going to be dropping time (off their events).”

The team will have its hands full against the likes of senior Brad Byars and junior Adam Trafton, who are both quick freestyle swimmers.

“When we swam earlier this season, we knew going in that they were a bit better,” Padovan said. “They are solid all the way across. We need to find and race our best times. We’re competitive in a lot of events, but they have a good program – and earlier in the year, they went in and smoked us.”

Noble said he has hope for his team.

“I think it can be close if we swim the way we have been,” Noble said. “If we could win, that’d be great; we’re going to go swim hard and as fast as we have been all season, since it’s Ray’s last meet.”

Even though this is the seniors’ and Padovan’s last home meet, the teams are entering the meet against Saint Louis with their usual mentality.

“We went into the meet against (Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis) with confidence, and we’re going into this next meet with the same mentality,” senior Tim O’Hagan said. “We’re going to go in and make Ray’s last home meet a victory.”

Ross Meister can be reached at 581-7944 or at :rwmeister@eiu.edu.

Coach Ray Padovan looks at his pratice schedule over at Thursday afternoon’s swiming pratice at Lantz Natitorum. Ray will be coaching his final home meet this season after 42 years at EIU. (John Bailey/The Daily Eastern News)

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