The Panther men and women swimmers finished up their home dual meet season by splitting a meet with the Billikens of Saint Louis University, as the men hung on for a 104-101 win while the Panther women fell to a score of 132-72.

Before the meet, the Panthers honored their seven departing seniors before they competed for the last time in Padovan Pool at Lantz Arena.

Head Coach Matt Bos said the seniors, Megan Eshleman, Ian Hoppie, Alyssa Lehman, Nathan Moritz, Sofia Pappanastos, Matt Scaliatine and Cody Showers, all had great days as well as good Panther careers.

“I would like to thank the seniors for what they have done for our program over the past four years,” said Bos. “I wish the women could have gone out with a win, but nonetheless, they all swam very well today.”

The Panther women were lead by seniors Eshleman and Lehman, who won their respective 1000-Free and 100-Back races with times of 10:47.90 and 1:01.53.

The women also saw sophomore Kelli Dicanio win her 100-Breast race with a final time of 1:08.43

On the men’s side, Panther individual winners included Showers in the 50-Free sprint with a time of 21.59, as well as junior Rich Waszak, who took the 200-Free with a time of 144.65.

Also leading the Panther men were sophomores Mike Lacine and Ken Tiltges, as Lacine took the 200-IM in 1:57.24 and Tiltges out-touched the Billikens with a final time of 47.44 in the 100-Free.

The Panther men also took the top prize in the 200-Medley relay as Waszak, junior Matt O’Hagan, Lacine, and sophomore Colin McGill teamed up for a season-best time of 1:35.07 to beat St. Louis.

The Panthers will now look towards the Summit League Championship meet Feb. 16-19 in Indianapolis, Ind. The meet is hosted by Summit League rival Indiana University/Purdue University- Indianapolis, and will feature the rest of the Summit League teams.

Bos said that while the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies are favorites to win, he expects the entire meet to be competitive, as Summit League teams continue to improve from top to bottom.

“It’s going to be a good meet. Looking up and down, I think everybody’s swimming better now than they have been in the past at this time of year,” said Bos.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu

Megan Eshleman, a senior freestyle swimmer, races in the women’s 500-yard freestyle against Saint Louis University Saturday in the Ray Padovan Pool. Eshleman took second place in the race, but the women’s team lost to Saint Louis University 132-72. (Danny

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