The Eastern men and women’s swim teams will host their season opener on Saturday against Valparaiso.
The Panther women’s swim team is coming off of a split, winning against Butler and losing against IUPUI. The men had a strong showing in their loss to IUPUI with a winner in junior Matt Jacobs taking the 200-yard breaststroke.
Jacobs had a time of 2 minutes, 09.06 seconds. Following behind Jacobs in second and third place were teammates junior Brandon Robbins and freshman Colin Frazee with times of 2:10.77 and 2:25.46.
The Panthers took the top two finishes in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Patrick Wood, sophomore Logan Long, sophomore Tyler Parrish and junior Shamus Shields ended up in first and then teammates junior Ben Pitlock, sophomore Gerald Stingle, sophomore Jason Manning and sophomore Alex Laleian finished in second with a time of 1:31.98 and 1:34.46 respectively.
Robbins took second in the 200-yard freestyle finishing at 27.66. Sophomore Nick Harkins ended up in fourth with a time of 1:49.11. Stingle finished behind Harkins with a time of 1:53.39.
Senior Brogan O’Doherty took second place honors in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:02.14. Pitlock ended up in fifth with a 2:13.20 outing.
For the women, sophomore Lauren Oostman finished second in the 200-backstroke with a time of 2:06.57.
Junior Danielle DiMatteo ended up with a second-place finish in the 100-freestyle with a time of 54.33. DiMatteo also finished third in the 50-free with a time of 25.40.
DiMatteo and Oostman paired up with freshman Rachel Manderscheid and sophomore Martee Grainger to take third place in the 400-medley relay with a time of 4:03.33. The team of junior Niki Beringer, senior Paige Eavenson, freshman Julia Martin and freshman Sara Dains ended up in sixth with a time of 4:15.10 in the same event.
The men’s team split the season last year with Valparaiso, while the women swept the Crusaders. Both teams hold the all-time series against Valparaiso; the women are 20-4, while the men are 22-2.
The Crusaders are coming off of a seventh place finish for both the men and women’s teams in the Indiana Intercollegiates at Purdue.
Emily Trimpe, Amanda Jenny, Erica Martins and Paige Wright finished fourth in the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:42.63 for the women’s team.
Peyton Stambeck, Mac Sogandares, Colten Lawson and Harrison Jenny came away with a third place finish in the 200-free relay with a finish of 1:28.67 for the men. Stambeck also received an eighth-place finish in the 100-butterfly with a time of 54.04.
The Panthers take on the Crusaders at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Padovan Pool.

 Tyler McCluskey can be reached at 581-2812  or trmccluskey@eiu.edu.