Facing the Salukis, the Aces’ women’s team fell, 143-100, while Evansville’s men dropped the dual by a similar score of 141-96.
“Southern Illinois has been a really good team for a very long time,” said Aces’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving head coach Brent Noble. “To move ahead in our conference and region, they’re a great target. I’m happy with how we competed with them today. We were more competitive than in previous years, we continue to make a statement at meets about the direction we are going.”
Opening competition, Evansville earned a win in the women’s 100 yard medley relay as the team of Samantha Gowdy, Kaylee Gubricky, Kristen Myers, and Pearl Muensterman finished in a time of 50.95 seconds. The Aces score was bolstered by taking the top two spots in the women’s 100 yard freestyle as Jessie Steele finished first with a time of 54.97, while Madi Jones finished just two-hundredths of a second behind Steele in second.
Again finding success, Evansville took second through fifth in the women’s 25 yard freestyle with Muensterman, Gubricky, Kristy Kupfer, and Gowdy all finishing within five-tenths of a second of one another. Myers helped garner another podium finish for the Aces in the women’s 100 yard IM, finishing with a time of 1:01.82.
The strong outing continued for Myers, who won the women’s 50 yard butterfly in a time of 26.42. Evansville took the top two spots in the women’s 50 yard freestyle as Gubricky (25.08) and Muensterman (25.30) finished one-two in the event. Two more second-place finishes came by way of Gowdy and Kupfer with Gowdy garnering a runner-up finish in women’s 50 yard backstroke (28.48) and Kupfer finishing second with a time of 2:31.69 in the women’s 250 yard freestyle.
In the final women’s event of the day, Evansville finished second, third, and fourth in the women’s 100 yard freestyle relay, led by the team of Emma Hennessy, Kupfer, Emily Vasquez, and Madi Jones, who completed the event in a time of 47.30.
Box Score (PDF)
On the men’s side, the day began with a victory in the men’s 200 yard medley relay where the team of Credence Pattinson, Eli James, Ryan Wood, and Matt Duke took the top spot with a time of 1:35.91. Duke picked up his second win of the meet, earning a first-place finish in the men’s 50 yard freestyle (21.67).
The Aces captured two more podium finishes in the men’s 100 yard butterfly as Andrew Schroder finished second with a time of 52.91, followed by Wood, who followed four-tenths of a second behind. Austin Smith (48.73) and Jared Sutphin (48.81) added to Evansville’s podium top three finishes on the day, finishing in second and third, respectively, in the men’s 100 yard freestyle. Pattinson secured his second win on the day in the men’s 100 yard backstroke in a time of 52.77, followed by Brandt Hudson in second with a time of 53.13.
Closing out the meet, Evansville earned its second relay victory as Duke, Pattinson, Sutphin, and Wood finished first (1:26.30) in the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay.
The Aces’ women’s team next heads to the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Columbia, Mo. from Feb. 20-23, while Evansville’s men compete in the MAC Conference Championships from Mar. 4-7 in Oxford, Ohio.
