The Eastern men’s and women’s swimming teams started off the new year with a dual meet against the University of Tampa as the men lost 126-58 and the women fell 69-116.

Junior Scott House provided two second-place finishes for the men’s team, the most of any Panther, posting a 21.90 second finish in the 50-yard freestyle and a 49.35 second finish in the 100-yard freestyle event.

House currently holds Eastern’s best time of the year in both of those events after a 21.20 second finish in the 50-yard freestyle against Saint Louis and a 46.17 second time against Valparaiso.

House also posted a 21.15 second split in the freestyle leg of the 200-yard medley relay for Eastern’s A-relay.

Leading off the relay, sophomore Andrew Crouse posted a 25.95 second split in backstroke, and junior Race Archibald split the second leg of breaststroke at 28.03. Sophomore Jay Butler had a 23.70 split before House finished it out as the relay placed third with a time of 1:38.33.

In more individual action, Crouse finished second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.21 and he placed fourth in the 50-yard backstroke at 25.89 seconds.

Junior Chris Dixon posted a personal best split in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 30.16, and he placed second in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:02.93.

Dixon also finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:50.56 finish.

For the women, two Panthers placed first as sophomore Sabrina Chu finished with a gold in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.26.

Chu nearly bested her season-low time in the event, previously set at 1:59.30 against Valparaiso.

Freshman Ashley Glesing took home first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:09.89.

Junior Sarah Lohman placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:03.92, her best time of the season in the event, and she posted a 29.53 second finish in the 50-yard backstroke, good for third.

Freshman Matti Friesz took home third in the 100-yard backstroke behind Lohman with a 1:04.44 finish.

Sophomore Kathryn Black still holds the best time of the season in the event at 1:02.49, ahead of Friesz’ and Lohman’s performance from this meet.

Both teams suit back up this Saturday at 1 p.m. in a rematch against Valparaiso. The men’s and the women’s team defeated Valparaiso in their previous matchups in early October.

Oscar Rzodkiewicz can be reached at 581-2812 or orrzodkiewicz@eiu.edu.