The Summit League Championships are just around the corner. In another week, the Panthers will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. to do what they have been working up to all season.

The last time the Panthers were in action was on Jan. 28 against Valparaiso. Other teams that swam their meets that day were: Western Illinois who took on Washington University where both the men and women lost, South Dakota State who lost to North Dakota, a conference matchup with the women of Omaha and South Dakota which saw Omaha coming out on top with a 158.5-141.5 victory.

Western Illinois on Feb. 3, the men and women lost to the University of Iowa and Northern Iowa.

The next day, South Dakota and South Dakota State took part in the Minnesota Challenge that consisted of 18 schools. Erin Kleiner of South Dakota earned the Summit League swimmer of the week for her performance in the Minnesota Challenge.

She won in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:11.84. For the men’s side, SDSU’s Matt Carpenter recorded two first place finishes in the Minnesota Challenge in the 200-yard backstroke and the 500-yard freestyle with times of 1:55.83 and 4:40.30, respectively.

In last year’s Summit League Championship, both the Panther men’s and women’s swim teams finished in sixth place.

Senior Brogan O’Doherty had the highest finish with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in the time of 1:50.19.

This season, O’Doherty’s fastest time in the same event came against Ball State on Jan. 20 in the time of 1:59.63.

Junior Steve Fishman in the same event took sixth-place with a time of 1:51.27.

Junior Brandon Robbins broke a Panther record in the 200-breaststroke touching the wall at 2:04.57, which was an eighth-place finish.

Sophomore Lauren Oostman earned a Panther record in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.32. Senior Fallyn Schwake took 11th place in the 1650-yard freestyle in 17:44.76.

Denver came away with wins for both the men’s and women’s teams. The Denver men had a total of 975.5 points while the next closest team was IUPUI with 642.5. On the women’s side, Denver had 1066 points and the next closest was SDSU with 534.5. The Panthers men and women’s teams had 229.5 and 213.5, respectively.

The Summit League Championship begins on Feb. 15 and goes until the 18.

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