Ian Hoppie, a senior freestyle swimmer, races in the men's 1000-yard freestyle Saturday against Missouri State in the Ray Padovan Pool. Hoppie took fourth place in the event. (Danny Damiani|The Daily Eastern News)
The Panther swimmers remained hard at work this past Saturday, as they followed Friday's win against conference foe Indiana University/Purdue University-Indianapolis with another dual meet against non-conference opponent Missouri State.
The Panthers were not met with quite as much success against MSU as they were against IUPUI, but head coach Matt Bos said the back to back meets was a major learning experience for the team.
"It (the meet) gave us one more opportunity to race on back-to-back days," said Bos. "Which is important since the Summit League Championship is a four day meet."
The Missouri State meet was also a late addition to the Panthers' schedule, and Bos said it happened to work out because both teams were looking to add another chance to race and both had openings in their schedules.
"Missouri State was looking for another meet and things worked out with them coming to Charleston, so we added the meet," said Bos.
The men lost by an official score of 136-69, while the women fell by a margin of 146-56.
"Missouri State is a tough team," said coach Bos. "They have a huge roster and a lot of talent so it provided us with some top notch competition as we prepare for our championship meet."
Even though the teams lost, several Panthers set season best times, including sophomore Ken Tiltges in the 100-Free and 200-IM to lead the charge for the men.
Senior Cody Showers also set a new season-best time en route to winning the 50-Free event with a time of 21.76.
For the women, senior Megan Eshelman continued her success from the previous day as she once again touched first in the 500-Free.
Several Panthers finished second in their respective races, including senior Nathan Moritz in the 100-Fly for the men.
Panther women finishing runner-up included freshman Kate Paige in the 100-Fly and senior Alyssa Lehman in the 100-Back.
Sophomore Kelli Dicanio also finished in second for the Panthers, touching runner up in the 100-Breast.
The women and men both won their 200-Medley relays, as the women's team of Lehman, Dicanio, Paige and junior Morgan Roberts out paced the Bears with a combined time of 1:52.52.
On the men's side of the same event, the group of juniors Rich Waszak and Matt O'Hagan, Showers and sophomore Colin McGill took the top spot with a time of 1:35.78.
In the 200-Free relay, the teaming of Tiltges, Showers, and sophomores Mike Lacine and Mike Lehman took second place for Eastern.
The Panthers also featured some third place finishers Saturday, as McGill took home the bronze in the 100-Back as did freshman Mary Lacine in the 200-IM.
The Panthers' next meet will be their final dual meet of the season, as they will take on St. Louis in Padovan Pool at Lantz Arena this Saturday, with the first event set for 11:30. The Panthers will also honor their seven departing seniors on Saturday.
Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu
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