The men’s and women’s swim teams competed on Friday for the first time in 2017 against Indiana State and Ball State. The men took on Ball State, while the women’s side took on both teams.

The Panthers lost to Ball State on the men’s side, 188-93. On the women’s side, they lost 247-47 to the Cardinals and suffered a 170-88 loss to the Sycamores.

The men ended up racking up five first-place finishes. In the 200-medley relay, the team that consisted of senior Brogan O’Doherty, junior Jennings Soccorso-McCoy, junior Patrick Wood, and junior Brandon Robbins finished in the time of 1:36.27, beating out Ball State by just over a half a second (.56).

In the 200-free relay, the team of O’Doherty, Soccorso-McCoy, junior Matt Jacobs, and junior Steve Fishman finished in the time of 1:27.05.

O’Doherty, Jacobs, and Robbins finished first in their respective events. For 100-back, O’Doherty came away in first with a time of 52.05. Jacobs won with a time of 57.47 in the 100-breast, while Robbins took first with a time of 2:10.71 in the 200-breast.

Soccorso-McCoy also took third in the 50-free with a time of 22.14. He also took second with a time of 48.14 in the 100-free.

Fishman returned to see the pool for the first time this season as he not only earned first place in the 200-free relay, but earned a second and third place finish in the 200-back and the 200-free with times of 1:57.65 and 1:47.50, respectively. Following him in the 200-back was O’Doherty, with a time of 1:59.63.

On the women’s side, sophomore Lauren Oostman finished with a pair of third place finishes in the 100-back and 200-back with times of 1:00.18 and 2:11.37 respectively.

In the 200-medley relay, the team of Oostman, junio Dani DiMatteo, sophomore Matree Grainger, and freshman Rachel Manderscheid took home fourth place touching the wall in the time of 1:53.76.

Senior Fallyn Schwake took fourth in the 1000-free; in the time of 10:59.87.in the 500-free, she took fifth place touching the wall at 5:24.49.

Manderscheid and sophomore Caro Lamarque took fourth and fifth in the 100-breast with times of 1:14.21 and 1:15.10, respectively.

In the 100-free, Grainger ended in sixth place with a time of 56.12. Freshman Gloria Gonzales took ninth in the same event, finishing in a time of 58.12.

DiMatteo took home a top-five finish in the 100-butterfly in the time of 1:01.06. Senior Paige Eavenson finished two spots behind her in 1:02.68. Freshman Julia Martin was not far behind in ninth place with a time of 1:03.88.

Next up for the Panthers is a rematch from earlier this season. The Panthers take on Valparaiso on Jan. 28 at 1 p.m. at Valparaiso. The Panthers won the last meeting for both teams.

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