The Saint Louis men's and women's swimming and diving squads each picked up a win over the Panthers of Eastern Illinois Friday evening. The men topped EIU 200-60, while the women won 170-92.
With a final record in dual meets of 14-2, the Billiken men have a 87.5% win percentage, the second highest tally in school history. The women were 15-4 (78.9%) giving them the sixth best season in SLU history.
In tonight's meet, Grant Alef continued to dominate the 1000-yard freestyle. After setting a personal best last week, Alef set a Billiken season-best against the Panthers, touching the wall at 9:49.76. His time is the sixth-fastest in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season. Alef also won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:54.46.
Sophomore Brendan Hulseman was the top scorer for the men at EIU. He won the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.27) and the 100-yard butterfly (52.19) while finishing third in the 100-yard freestyle (46.86). He also swam the anchor of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay that came in at 3:09.89 (48.76 anchor split).
For the women, Morgan Peterson yet again swept every event in which she competed. She won the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.67, second-best SLU time this season), 200-yard breaststroke (2:21.15) and 100-yard butterfly (57.71). This season, she has won 37 of the 38 events in which she has competed. Peterson's sole loss came on Sept. 27, the first meet of the year, in the 100-yard breaststroke. In the event, she was out-touched by teammate Melanie Battaglia by .06 seconds.
The Billiken divers will get their final tune-up of the season tomorrow, Feb. 1, at Principia College in Elsah, Ill. It is a divers-only meet with Lindenwood, Maryville, Principia and the Billiken divers competing on both the one- and three-meter boards.
The Billiken swimmers will begin training for the Atlantic 10 Championship in Geneva, Ohio on Feb. 19-22 at the Spire Institute. Last season, Stephen Hansen won the 100-yard breaststroke, becoming only the second male swimmer to earn a gold medal at the A-10 Championships.
