The men and women’s swim team will be returning to the pool Friday for the first time since Nov. 23.

Both teams will be swimming in the Western Illinois Double-Dual along with South Dakota in Macomb, Illinois on Friday and Saturday.

The meet on Friday will begin at 4:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.

The men are going into the meet with a 1-2 record on the season, while the women go in at 1-3.

The Panthers will not be at full strength for this weekend because of some swimmers having sicknesses and just getting over sicknesses.

Coach Jacqueline Michalski said he believes the swimmers that are healthy are ready to compete again.

This weekend, the teams will swim every event that is offered over the course of the two days.

All swimmers look to continue the success they have had this year.

Coming into this meet, 11 men and five women currently own at least one Top 25 rank in the latest Summit League top time list.

Freshman Steve Fishman is one of the men on that list ranked at 17th for the Men’s 200-meter Freestyle with a time of 1:42.50 and in 10^th for the Men’s 200-Backstroke.

For the women, freshman Amy Smith is currently at 16th in the women’s 200-Backstroke with a time of 2:08.45.

Even though it is two straight days of swimming, the teams will prepare no different than they usually would.

Michalski said their main goal is to keep getting better and be ready for the end of season meet where they will compete at conference.

This weekend, she said she expects it will be a pretty even race between them and Western.

“I think we are pretty equal with competition, so I think it is just going to come down to who gets their hand on the wall first,” she said.

Regarding South Dakota, Michalski said she believes they have a little bit more depth than the Panthers.

She said she still thinks it is just going to come down to who can get their hand on the wall first.

So the Panthers will have to give all they have to get the victory.

“I think we just have to stay positive and have a good attitude going into the meet and try to have as much fun as possible,” Michalski said. “It’s been a rough week, classes just started back up.”

The senior Panthers because they only have two more meets after this as well as the conference meet in February.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or smhastings@eiu.edu.