Oakland has it sealed.

The perennial conference champion is used to winning at the conference meet.

The Oakland men’s and the women’s swimming programs have won eight-straight conference championships. Though Oakland is favored to win this meet, it will be a battle for second and Eastern wants to contend for that spot.

The Eastern men and women’s swimming teams will be starting their three-day contention today at the Summit League Championships in Rochester, Mich.

Oakland’s men’s and women’s swimming teams won last year’s championships. The men’s and the women’s programs have won nine straight conference championships.

“Realistically, all the teams know that Oakland dominates the meet,” said Eastern head coach Ray Padovan. “You have set times, but they are so dominant that first place is sealed. So after that we need to see what happens.”

Oakland’s team is built around a depth of seniors who lead the team not only by example, but also a great deal of leadership.

“Keys for us, as always, will be our seniors,” Oakland head coach Pete Hovland said. “We do have a couple of swimmers ranked higher in some events than the individuals listed. However, when it comes to winning championships, you have to have great leadership. You have to have a core of individuals that can lead by example and that can make things happen. These individuals have provided this for us this year and will be the reason why this might be our best teams yet.”

Hovland is expecting a lot from Eastern.

“Ray’s teams are always well prepared when they do show up for the championships,” said Hovland. “I’m sure his two teams will be even more motivated this week with this being his last year. The surprise team that could take second in this meet is EIU, because of this being Ray’s last season.”

Even though Oakland’s strength is going to be in the sprinting events, Eastern could make a showing in sprinting events on the men’s side which could be good enough to beat out Centenary and Western Illinois for second place overall.

“Oakland’s got a lot of versatile guys on their team,” said Eastern senior Tim O’Hagan. “In the 200-yard freestyle relay, it is going to be close, we got a good place last year for it. We hope to place second and give Oakland a run for their money.”

On the women’s side, sophomores Lauren Zillmer and Laura Nilsen want to continue their successful seasons in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle and in the backstroke and 200-yard individual medley events, respectively.

“Nilsen’s placed in the top eight for all of her events and Zillmer is in the top 16,” senior Patty Young said. “I expect them to do well, they should help out both individually and in the relays.”

It will be difficult for the women’s team to beat Western Illinois. Eastern lost to Western earlier in the season, 153-90.

“Oakland is usually far ahead, so coming in second would be a big deal because it would mean we would beat Western which would be a big deal for us,” Young said.

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