For the second time in his career, Eastern men’s senior swimmer Matt Jacobs was named the Swimmer of the Week for the Summit League following his performance at House of Champions.

At the House of Champions, Jacobs swam in five total events: two individual and three relay races. For the 100-breast event, Jacobs finished 10th with a 56.38 time and for the 200-breast, he finished 17th with a time of 2:05.60.

What worked for Jacobs in order to earn his top 10 and top 25 finishes was how often he practiced the timing of his strokes.

“For the last few weeks leading up to House of Champions, we’ve worked a lot on the timing of my stroke,” Jacobs said. “This helped me be smooth and efficient with my strokes throughout the races.”

For breaststroke swimmers, timing is when the swimmer’s hands and legs move. In order to be a successful swimmer in those events, the timing has to be exact. Coach Jacqueline Michalski said because of his timing, that is what made Jacobs successful.

Because of those top finishes, Jacobs is currently ranked first for the 100-breast and 200-breast in the Summit League. For the relays, Jacobs helped the Panthers finish in the top 25 in the 200-free relay, 400-medley relay and the 400-free relay.

Jacobs said Michalski is always pushing him to be better. He said sometimes she expects more out of him than his own expectations. Because of this, he said her expectations help push himself harder to reach his goals.

Going into the meet, Jacobs had those goals set and after House of Champions, Jacobs walked away satisfied with his performances.

“At the meet, he was focused and he was excited and determined to be successful,” Michalski said. “He really went into that meet, knowing what he wanted to do and he walked away doing it.”

As for the rest of Jacobs’ senior year, he is determined to accomplish all the goals he has set for himself. Michalski has complete confidence that Jacobs will finish strong and reach all of those goals.

“Matt has some really big goals that he wants to accomplish before he graduates and I think that’s why he has been so successful each year leading up,” Michalksi said. “He sets new goals and Matt is the type of person that when his mind is to it, he will succeed.”

One thing Michalski said that Jacobs has been doing better than previous years is listening and trying new techniques in order to improve. With that being said, his ability to adapt, as well as his motivation, will allow him to succeed for the rest of his senior year.

“I don’t see anything standing in his way because he is very determined and motivated to want to finish senior year on a very high note,” Michalski said. “He really is listening this year more so than other years.”

The men’s and women’s swim teams will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Indiana State Relay Meet on Dec. 2.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu