After winning for the first time of the season against Western Illinois, the Eastern swimmers split in its home meet against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, with the men winning 113-88 and the women losing by a small margin, 122.5-80.5. The Panthers will finish the regular season in a tri-meet against Saint Louis and Evansville in St. Louis on Saturday.

Around the Summit League

Oakland sophomore Amr el Sayed won the Men’s Athlete of the Week award for the second time this season. Sayed won both the 1,000 and the 500-yard Freestyles.

Oakland sophomore Vanessza Balogh has become a regular as she earned the Women’s Athlete of the Week award for the fourth time this season. Balogh finished in first place in both the 200 and 500-yard Breastrokes and the 200-yard Individual Medley. She is now tied for third in Summit League history with four Athlete of the Week awards within a single season.

With the help of Sayed and Balogh, the men and women of Oakland won in their tri-meet against Cleveland State and Xavier. Oakland also won a quad-meet against Ashland, Cincinnati and Kenyon. The Golden Grizzlies will next face IUPUI on Saturday.

Both the men and women’s teams of South Dakota State beat the University of South Dakota 152-74 and 140-97 this past Saturday. South Dakota State will face North Dakota next in Grand Forks, N.D., Friday evening.

Western Illinois came in last in the tri-meet against St. Louis, Xavier and IUPUI. Western Illinois on Saturday will meet at home against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The University of South Dakota lost against South Dakota State with the men losing 87-140 and the women losing 74-152 last Saturday. The next meet will be at 1 p.m. at North Dakota on Saturday.

The women of the University of Omaha competed against at the Grinnell Invitational this past weekend and finished second to Gustavus Adolphus College. Omaha will battle Iowa State on Friday evening.

After receiving a split against Eastern, IUPUI will head to Rochester, Mich., to face Oakland on Saturday.

Nick Blankenship can be reached at 581-7942 or nrblankenship@eiu.edu