Coming off an impressive opening showing in which the men won the six-team Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis Invite on Oct. 11, the Panthers swim teams were back in the pool last weekend competing in a pair of dual meets.

Eastern started the weekend with a trip to Kentucky to take on the Louisville Cardinals. The Cardinal men were winless on the season heading into the meet after losing to Virginia Tech and East Carolina on the road, but Louisville boasts an experienced roster with nine upperclassmen on the team. One of those upperclassmen, Sean Wilkinson, helped lead the way for the Cardinals 119-112 victory over the Panthers.

Wilkinson, a diver from New Zealand, continued his reign as Louisville’s most successful diver by winning both the one-meter and three-meter diving competitions. Wilkinson recorded 18 total points for his team by besting Eastern’s freshman Dave Trabilsy in each event.

Although Wilkinson won both events, Panthers head coach Ray Padovan was pleased that Eastern scored in the diving competition. Last year, the Panthers did not have a diver on their roster to compete in the events and were always at a disadvantage. Padovan said Trabilsy’s performance was solid and the ‘Dean of Eastern coaches’ mentioned how key it is for the team to have a diver this year.

“It’s highly important for us to compete in the diving competition,” Padovan said. “Last year we didn’t have a diver and were always giving up 10-30 points, so he really takes the edge off that. He did a nice job in both events, especially in the three meter because that is a dive they don’t do in high school so it’s still new to him.”

Unfortunately, the Cardinal men were too much for the Panthers to handle. Louisville took home 13 of the 17 available points in the 400-meter medley relay and sophomore Matt Lees won the 200-yard individual medley for another nine points.

For the Panthers, senior Rich Wahlgren helped fill the loss of Josh Kercheval, who graduated last year, by winning he 200-meter freestyle by over two seconds. Juniors Tom Watson and Patrick Griffin finished one-two in the 1000-meter freestyle and the surprise of the weekend may have come from freshman Bill Senese who won the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.80.

“All of our new people are still learning, but of the group, Bill Senese has stood out the most,” Padovan said.

The Louisville women had little trouble with the Panthers winning their meet 146-90. Leading the charge for the Cardinals was freshman Larissa Niehoff who won the 1000-meter freestyle and the 200-meter backstroke. Sophomore Lauren Bullock swam away with the 200 and 500-meter freestyles and freshman Emily Rabe became the third Cardinal to win two races with her performance in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle

The Eastern women struggled in many of the events, but the Panthers did sweep the 200-meter breaststroke with senior Jordan Sherbrooke winning the event in a time of 2:36.88. Sophomore Kim Fischer was right behind her at 2:40.93 and freshman Erica Stotts rounded out the top three with a finish of 2:45.86.

“Jordan has done a good job this year,” Padovan said. “She’s been real solid and has swam well.”

The Panther men rebounded on Saturday with a close 49-46 win against Xavier. Wahlgren and Senese again had good meets as each picked up two wins. Wahlgren’s triumphs were in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle, while Senese was victorious in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke.

Watson also got into the action with a win in the 500-meter freestyle and the Eastern relay team of Senese, Watson, Wahlgren and Jim Anderson took home first-place in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

The women’s squad fell to 0-2 on the young season with a 54-40 loss. In the defeat, the Panthers did have a few strong performances with Sherbrooke and sophomore Claire Garvey leading the way. Sherbrooke won three events including the 200-meter freestyle, 500-meter freestyle and 100-meter breastroke. Garvey won the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:17.88 to beat Xavier’s Sarah Brown for the win.

“Garvey is really starting to swim well,” Padovan said. “We’ve moved her to a few new events and she has been solid.”

Fellow sophomore Jenny Curry took home a pair of second-place finishes in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle, and according to Padovan is starting to become an impact player.

“Curry is starting to come around,” Padovan said. “She was off a little bit last week (against IUPUI) but she’ll come around once we get in the weight room and continue on with the season.”

Padovan said while the Panthers record 0-2 record may assume otherwise there is no reason to panic yet.

“I’m not worried, it’s a long season,” Padovan said. “Basically the teams we lost to this weekend were better than us, but we also didn’t swim too well either.”

The Panthers will next be in action this Friday as they host Illinois-Chicago at the Lantz Natatorium.