The Eastern men and women’s swim teams start off their semester season on a high note as both teams won their meets on Saturday against Valparaiso

The women’s team won its meet 167-94, led by three Panthers who each recorded two first place finishes.  Among those players is junior Lauren Oostman, as she finished first in the 100-back (1:00.25) and also the 200-back (2:13.23). 

Oostman not only performed well individually by scoring 18 points, but she also swam backstroke in the 200-medley and helped contribute for a Panther’s win with a 1:53.88 time.

“It’s really encouraging to see teammates do well and win and succeed together,” Oostman said. 

The other two women swimmers were sophomore Kailey Adcock, who finished first in the 1000-free (11:32.86) and the 500-free (5:36.45), and senior Danielle Dimatteo, placing first in the 50-free (25.65) and 100-fly (1:00.44). 

For junior Martee Grainger, she swam in two freestyle events in Saturday’s meet, finishing fourth in the 100-free (56.19) and second in the 200-free (2:03.24).  Her excitement of the first meet helped her on Saturday; however, her main goal is to recover from a knee injury.

“Personally, I just let the excitement and energy of the first meet of the season carry through to my races,” Grainger said.  “I’m coming off a knee injury right now and just focused on getting stronger and building back to where I was prior to.”

For the men’s team, they won 160-142 and also won the 200-medley. 

Senior Steve Fisherman contributed in the 200-medley while swimming backstroke and also finished first twice individually in 200-back (1:57.37) and 200-IM (2:00.55).

Despite winning those two events, Fisherman came in second place in the 100-back with a 53.95 time, just .57 behind the first place swimmer.  Fisherman said it all comes down to practicing and focusing on improving his technique and endurance.

“Yes, the swims were good but they can always be better,” Fisherman said.  “With that being said, for the first meet it was a way to shake off the cobwebs and get back into the race mentality.”

Senior Matt Jacobs was the other men’s swimmer who won two events Saturday in the 100-breast (58.58) and the 200-breast (2:13.62).  Other first place winners were freshman Scott House in the 100-free (48.71) and freshman Ivan Escott in the 100-fly (53.48). 

One thing the Panthers did well on Saturday, aside from finishing first in events, was having individual or medley events still place well, even if it wasn’t always first.  Even though first place has the high point value, second and third place still accumulate needed points.

“I’d say the thing we did best was having depth in our events,” junior Nick Harkin said.  “Even if we didn’t place first in the event, we worked hard to finish in the highest place possible.”

Harkin finished second in the 50-freestyle (22.50) and third in the 200-freestyle (1:49.13).  The Panther swim teams will host their first meet of the semester against Lewis University at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 

Adam Shay can be reached at

581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu