Men’s and women’s swim teams end season on a high note

The regular season came to an end Saturday for the Eastern men’s and women’s swim teams. Both teams were victorious as the men defeated MacMurray 113-38, while the women won over MacMurray 127-96.

This meet was not as intense as most competitions this season because of the smaller size of the MacMurray team.

“They don’t have a lot of swimmers, especially on the men’s side,” Panther head coach Ray Padovan said. “Most of our swimmers only swam one event that they needed to and one that they wanted to.”

Saturday was a special meet for the 11 seniors on Padovan’s team who graduate in May as they were honored after the meet.

“We like to recognize our seniors because they’re the ones who have been with us the longest,” Padovan said.

The five Panther men and six Panther women honored at Saturday’s meet were Meg Bente, Scott Burrus, Pat Curran, Amanda Dore, Karina Freer, Janet Fuller, Angie Grainger, Luke Porritt, Christine Przybylski, Nick Schmidt and Scott Woodbury.

With the Mid-East Classic two weeks away, the Panthers will be doing less physical work in order to rest up for the big meet.

“We have about 10 days left of work,” Padovan said. “Some of the swimmers will even be heading home over the long weekend.”

Most of the competition that Eastern’s men and women will face at the Mid-East Classic will be from teams that the Panthers faced during the regular season. Some of those teams are Saint Louis University, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Bradley University, Valparaiso and Western Illinois. Vincennes and the University of Louisville will also be at the Classic.

“Our goal going in to this isn’t to place at a certain level,” Padovan said. “We usually go in and try to get everyone to swim as many lifetime bests as possible.

“We really have only one focal point now, and no distractions.”