Eastern men’s and women’s swim teams will end their season this weekend at the Midwest Classic Championships held in Indianapolis. The men will be looking to erase the bad memories of their last performance Feb. 8, when they were defeated by the Saint Louis Billikens 125-112.

The Panthers will once again face tough competition. Local rival Western Illinois will be at the event along with Indiana University at Purdue University, Eastern Michigan and Valparaiso.

“Western Illinois is the definite favorite,” head coach Ray Padovan said. “After that Eastern Michigan, IUPUI and us are all bunched together.”

Despite the Western men’s disappointing 3-8 record, the Leathernecks did defeat the Panthers 144-79 last November. Recently, Western finished second in the Mid-Continent Conference Championships. The Leathernecks placed higher than IUPUI.

Besides talented challengers, the Panthers will head into the weekend meet without any male divers. This is a problem Padovan has had to deal with all year and he knows it will play a factor in Indianapolis.

“It (lack of divers) hurts a lot and we will lose points because of it,” Padovan said. “Hopefully other people will step up (this weekend) and we will deal with the diving situation next year.”

Padovan is not looking for any individual to step up, rather he is expecting the whole team to be at its best.

“It’s the end of year so we need everybody,” Padovan said. “The best people will place the highest.”

Since the Panthers last meet two weeks ago, the team has went through light practices, which Padovan said could lead to better times and the possibility of records being shattered.

“You don’t see many records broken during the regular season,” Padovan said. “But now a lot of personal bests and records will be set because the teams have had time to recover and rest.”

Last year at the Midwest Classic Championship, senior co-captain Josh Kercheval set three school records and was named Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Midwestern Classic Conference.

Kercheval will be competing in the 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley, the 200-yard backstroke and four or five relay races.

Joining Kercheval on most of the relay races will be senior Nic Cheviron, junior Rich Wahlgren and sophomore Tom Watson.

“Our strongest relays are the 800-yard free relay and 400-yard free relay with Josh, Nic, Rich and Tom,” Padovan said.

The women’s team is also looking to put a poor performance against Saint Louis behind them when they hit the pool this weekend. Padovan believes the women are one of the top teams competing.

“It’s pretty much three teams at the top with Eastern, Western and IUPUI all about equal,” Padovan said.

One key for the Panthers will be how the talented freshmen duo of Claire Garvey and Jenny Curry respond after a disappointing meet against Saint Louis.

“They have been doing such a great job all year long, but last meet they really struggled, especially Claire,” Padovan said. “Hopefully two weeks of rest will help.”

Health is one concern Padovan will not have to worry about. Both the men and the women were dealing with sickness last week, but as of Wednesday both teams are at full strength and swimming.

The Midwest Classic Championship will begin Thursday and run through Saturday.