The Eastern women’s swim team led wire-to wire at the Midwest Classic Championship this weekend in Indianapolis to win their first title in more than 10 years.

The Panthers finished with 833.50 points to win the three-day event. Western Illinois finished a distant second (639) and Miami of Ohio rounded out the top three with 621 total points.

The men were unsuccessful in their claim to repeat as Midwest Classic Champions and finished fourth.

The Panthers had numerous outstanding individual performances, but head coach Ray Padovan said winning the Midwest Classic Championship was a complete team effort. He stressed that no one person stood out, instead the Eastern women gelled as a team over the weekend.

“It (key to winning) was a case of the team coming together at the right time,” Padovan said. “When you win 11 out of 20 races no one or two people stand out.”

The impressive win came to many as a forgone conclusion after day one of the event. The Panthers opened up a big lead on Thursday and never looked back.

“Winning became a reality after the first day,” Padovan said. “We led by 50 points on day one and were under control all three days.”

A big boost for the Panthers came from freshman Claire Garvey and Jenny Curry. The duo performed exceptional for a majority of the season but were coming off their worst showing of the year against Saint Louis on Feb. 8. Garvey and Curry regrouped and had one of the best showings of the season.

“Both Claire and Jenny swam great,” Padovan said. “Claire won the 400-meter individual medley (4:44.84) and was really solid in her other events. Jenny had many lifetime best swims. She was second in the 100-meter freestyle (53.68) and was part of three winning relays.”

Senior Allison Kenny finished her Panther career on a high note by winning the 100-meter freestyle in 53.35. Kenny also finished second in the 50-meter freestyle. The first and second place finishes were worth a total of 36.5 points for the Panthers. Kenny also took part in two first place relay teams as well.

This was the first Midwest Classic Championship for the Panthers in over a decade. Padovan was uncertain as to what set this team apart from the previous teams he has coached.

“I’m not sure what things were different,” Padovan said. “The team feed off of each other and swam great.”

The men’s team finished more than 300 points behind first-place Western Illinois. The men never got higher than third during the meet.

The men could not overcome the points lost in the diving portion. Eastern lacked male divers all season long and the Midwest Classic was no exception.

“We swam well enough to finish third but we ended up in fourth,” Padovan said. “Not having any divers hurt us in the men’s competition, but it was our strength in the women’s competition.”

The men also had two different relay squads disqualified, which cost them over 70 points in the competition.

“We were happy in some ways with the performance and also disappointed somewhat,” Padovan said.

Josh Kercheval, a senior co-captain from Sullivan struggled in his final meet for the Panthers. Kercheval, who won 21 individual races during the regular season, managed only one winner over the weekend. Kercheval won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:55.28 on day one.

Rich Wahlgren was a bright spot for the Panthers. The junior from Palos Heights won three events (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle) and also captained a relay winner.

Eastern Michigan and Indiana University at Purdue University finished second and third behing the front running Leathernecks.