The Eastern swim team consists of 34 swimmers and with only help from his graduate assistant, head coach Elliott McGill is responsible for all the current swimmers on the roster and handles all recruiting by himself.

“Every night I come home and after dinner I spend anywhere from one to two hours a night on recruiting,” McGill said.

On Wednesday, McGill announced the addition of four future Panthers to the men’s and women’s programs.

The four recruits include Brock Bales of Sullivan, Colton Woolsey of Galesburg, Paige Eavenson of Granite City and Fallyn Schwake of Waueksha, Wis.

Two additional walk-on commitments were also nabbed by the second-year head coach.

“It’s still early in the signing process but we’ve added good depth,” said McGill. “We’re still looking to add two or three more recruits for both the women’s and men’s team.”

Recruiting has some limitations and can be difficult when only one person is in charge McGill said.

“I can’t go out and travel to different places and see possible recruits swim,” McGill said. “The majority of the recruiting for me involves research. I sit down at my computer and look up swimmers, I talk to coaches and I meet the kids in person.”

Despite the challenge of recruiting all on his own, McGill said he enjoys it because he is able to use his time to get everything done when it needs to be.

Both recruits for the men’s squad are multi-sport athletes in their high school.

Bales has earned honors in not only swimming but also in cross country and track at Sullivan High School.

Woolsey hails from Galesburg High School and is a standout in track and football to go along with his swimming accolades.

“Some think that swimmers aren’t the most athletic, but I would say the most talented swimmers are multi-sport athletes, which we have a couple of so far,” McGill said.

Those multi-sport athletes push the envelope during training and conditioning which pushes others on the team as well, McGill said.

Eavenson medaled or placed in the top 10 in each of her individual events at the IHSA Sections all four seasons. The Granite City student also holds the record for IHSA swimming medals at her high school.

Schwake garnered Wisconsin state honors during her freshman and sophomore seasons.

The Wisconsin native was also named team captain at her high school.

McGill said one of the most important things he tries to convey to the recruits when they visit Eastern is the excelling academic lifestyle the university has.

The head coach will continue to recruit as this season progresses, but in the meantime, he said he is satisfied with the new recruits he signed during this early fall signing period.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu.