Forty events will get the Eastern men’s and women’s swim teams wet and wild this weekend when they strap on their goggles and hit the pool for the Panther Invitational, looking to repeat last year’s first-place finish.

The men’s and women’s swim teams, coming off of 11-1 records last year, will compete in a five-team meet against Bradley University, IUPU-Indianapolis, Vincennes and Lewis University.

With events Friday night and all day Saturday, the invitational’s format will condense three days of events into a day and a half.

“There will be a lot of swimming this week,” head coach Raymond Padovan said Thursday.

Padovan said that the biggest competition will come for the women of Bradley and the men form IUPUI.

In every sport injury is always a force to be reckoned with and as Padovan put it: “Nobody’s injured and everybody’s able.” He didn’t mention if players any injuries for the Panthers.

“We had a pretty good couple of weeks,” Padovan said. “And we are starting to get used to (practice and competition).”

The women’s side of the invitational may not be as difficult for the Panthers as they planned because the other teams just don’t have as many swimmers.

“We have just a little too much depth,” Padovan said. “And we are going to be a better invitational team than dual-meet team this year.”

He explained that the women’s team has all-around strong players for each discipline of stroke, not just two or three great players.

Senior and captain Jessica Kaatz knows all too well the structure of her squad and is looking forward to competing in the Invitational because of it’s different competition structure.

“We are strong in multiple events,” Kaatz said.

“We go three-to-four deep in each event … we just want to swim and win.”

Senior backstroke specialist Katie Hearman is prepped and ready for the upcoming meet as she will compete in the 200-meter backstroke.

“I am very excited and I feel our team is ready,” Hearman said. “I think it is going to be a close meet.”

The Panther Invitational starts at 5 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. on Saturday at the Lantz Natatorium.