The Eastern men’s and women’s swim team’s second to last meet of the season will be of great importance.

The Panthers men are coming off a 130-79 victory against Millikin, and the Eastern women will look to ride the momentum from their 160-49 victory.

“I didn’t really see the difference in their time,” Yanney said. “Where I saw more of a difference was in the effort the team is giving.”

Eastern was able to take full advantage of Millikin’s youth and lack of depth by experimenting with its swimmers in different positions and distances. However, going into the meet against Valparaiso, the Panthers won’t have the same luxury.

According to Yanney, Valpo breastroker Mike Hermes and Sean Conrin will be the swimmers that will create a challenge strategically.

On the women’s side, Yanney anticipates distance swimmer Britt Nelson in the 500 meter and 1000 meter and butterfly swimmer Katie Urbas to cause problems for the women’s team.

“We swam against (Valpo) earlier in the year and traditionally they are a second-half team and I anticipate they are going to be more prepared,” Yanney said. “It is definitely not going be like the Millikin meet. Everyone is going to be swimming in their strong events this week.”

Eastern’s meet against the Crusaders takes on increased importance because it hopes to have the momentum factor with the Midwest Classic in Indianapolis less then a month away.

“This is definitely important for us to perform well in this upcoming meet and the meet against St. Louis,” Yanney said.

The results of the Eastern men’s and women’s trip to Millikin was definitely a momentum builder for the teams.

The teams’ combined to win a total of 14 individual swimming events at Millikin on Jan 17.

Eastern swimmer Jordan Sherbrooke finished the 200 meter freestyle with a time of two minutes, and Tom Watson won the 200 free with a time of 1:47.74 and the 500 free with a time of 4:56.36. Paul Yemm finished with a time of 53.54 in the men’s 100 butterfly, and also finished second in the 400 Individual medley. Claire Garvey also won the 400 IM with a time of 4:53.91 and the 500 freestyle at 5:22.72. Josh Kercheval also won the 400 IM with a time of 4:19.25 and 100 yard backstroke with a time of 54.37.

“It is just a matter seeing what kind of effort that we can get out of them,” Yanney said. “Conference isn’t won by yourself- it’s won by coming together and supporting everybody else.”