Western Kentucky Sweeps Southern Illinois

The Western Kentucky University men’s and women’s  swimming and diving teams continued their winning ways on Saturday at the Bill Powell Natatorium sweeping Southern Illinois.

The Hilltoppers stayed perfect at 8-0 with a 138-99 victory as the women won 131-105 to improve to 7-  

“Obviously I’m extremely pleased with where we are right now, four and half weeks from conference,” head coach Bruce Marchionda said. “Coming off a very hard training camp for two weeks, we are tired and beat up, but I think we have handled the training extremely well and that is a great indicator for the end of the year.”
    

Peyton Thomas earned first place in both the one-meter and
three-meter diving competitions. He scored 281.70 in the one-meter and
283.58 points in the three-meter. Mike Freese dove in his first meet of
the year, earning second in the one-meter (252.80) and third in the
three-meter (252.23).
    Sean Penhale earned first in the 500-yard Free (4:34.25) and
the 1000 Free (9:48.93) for WKU. Joining Penhale in the 1000 Free was
Sean Shannon at second (9:49.06) and Dean Hupman at third (9:55:67).
Lukasz Herbst grabbed two second place finishes with one coming in the
100 Free at 46.84 and the other in the 200 Free at 1:41.65. Greg Gerum
took home first in the 200 Individual Medley at 1:51.86 and third in
the 100 Free at 47.18. Brian Lewis finished second in the 200 IM in
1:53.32 and took third in the 200 Fly in 1:51.52.
    Other winners for the Hilltoppers include Francis Gilmore in
the 200 Back in 1:50.31 and Cameron Brown in the 200 Breast in a time
of 2:07.77.
    For the Lady Toppers, the 200 Medley Relay team —consisting of
Jessica Aspinall, Brittany Doss, Claire Donahue, and Jennifer Adams —
started the meet by breaking the pool record in 1:46.34, just .06
seconds ahead of the last record held by Louisville. Aspinall also
finished the day winning the 200 Back (2:04.45) and grabbed third in
the 50 Free (24.90). Doss finished third in the 200 Breast in 2:24.80.
Donahue won first in the 200 Fly in 2:08.40 and was second in the 200
IM (2:09.65).
    Claire Alexandre finished first in the 100 and 200 Free,
tallying times of 54.00 and 1:53.23, respectively. Mallory Neltner
grabbed second in the 50 Free in 24.69 and third in the 200 Back
(2:07.77).
    Emily Waits was victorious in one-meter diving, scoring 246.98
and third in the three-meter. Erica Wilson won the three-meter in
258.75. Other winners included Kathryn Sutton in the 200 IM in 2:09.54
and Raichelle King in the 1000 Free in 10:27.08.
    Both team don’t get a lot of time to rest as they will be back
in the pool on Thursday (Jan. 31) at Louisville for a 6 p.m. (CDT)
start time.