The Eastern men and women’s swim team will have plenty of time off over the next couple of weeks with their next meet not until Jan. 13 against Saint Louis.

With that much time off and finals steadily approaching, coach Jacqueline Michalski said that practice will run as normal and the intensity within practices will stay the same. From last weekend’s meet, Michalski said that this time of the year is stressful.

“No matter if you’re a Division I athlete, or if you’re just a normal person living your life. The holiday season is stressful,” Michalski said. “You have a lot added on, finals coming up-that’s stressful, adding on you had a week home from break so your training is a little different. I made this (last) week really hard. Again, that’s pretty stressful.”

With the long break the team has, maintaining fitness and having the mindset to come back and get back into rhythm and form is a point Michalski made to the team recently.

“I have spoken to the team about the expectations for themselves over break,” she said. “They understand that what they do over break has a direct correlation to how they will swim at the end of the year.”

Sophomore Lauren Oostman said that her main focus this week is to stay in shape.

“This week, all I’m really trying to do is stay in shape,” Oostman said. “I’m not worried about being sore or tired for my meets so these next few weeks I’ll be pushing myself hard in and out of the pool.”

Oostman said to keep in shape over break, she will swim with her club team back home.

When the Panthers come back from break there will only be three more meets before the Summit League Championships beginning Feb. 15 in Indianapolis. The Panthers do not have any remaining home meets, the next three will all be away, which Michalski said does not matter if the meets are away or at home.

“It’s just another meet,” she said. “There’s no difference between away or home for us. It’s just get up and swim and race.”

When the team comes back from break, Michalski said that there will be slight changes to practice as the Summit League Championship get closer and the team practices to get better times.

The Panthers will see the likes of Saint Louis, who they just had seen last week. The men fell 138-60, while the women lost 164-56. The men’s team took a win from Maryville 116-28, but lost to Wabash College 120-82. The women took the victory over Maryville 110-29.

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