Swimming in front of their home crowd for the first time this season, the Eastern swim teams were looking to set the Lantz Natatorium ablaze. However, the Illinois-Chicago Flames had other ideas spoiling the Panthers homecoming on Oct. 24.

Behind the impressive swimming of sophomore Ari Bernstein, the UIC men made short work of the Panthers in a 143-100 victory.

Bernstein had three first-place victories including a time of 51.70 in the 100-yard butterfly. The River Forest native earned two of his three wins in the relay competition, leading the charge in 200-yard medley and the 200-yard freestyle.

As a team, the Flames won nine events, prompting Panthers head coach Ray Padovan to consider UIC the best school Eastern has faced this season. The Panthers have had dual meets with Louisville and Xavier this year.

“Yeah, they (UIC) probably were the best,” Padovan said. “We were in control early, but after the diving events they out swam us. They beat us in events we’re usually pretty strong in and things didn’t go our way.”

Despite the loss, the Panthers received a solid outing from senior Rich Wahlgren and junior Tom Watson. Wahlgren, a graduate of Amos A. Stagg, took home the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle, while Watson provided wins for Eastern in both the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle.

Bill Senese, a freshman from Hickory Hills, continued the hot start to his collegiate career with a win in the 50-yard freestyle. Last weekend, Senese won the same event against Louisville and followed the win up with a first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke in the dual meet with Xavier on Oct. 18., earning the praise of Padovan.

“It’s still early, but Bill started the season swimming well and now he is doing a phenomenal job,” Padovan said. “Some of the events he is swimming for us are not swam in high school.”

The Panther women didn’t have any more luck than the men, dropping the meet to UIC by 150-95 margin.

The Flames had eight freshmen making their debut in the meet, but that didn’t prevent UIC from breaking out to an early lead and coasting to the victory. Of those eight freshmen, diver Sarah Economides and freestylers Jenny Gessford and Emily Biancalana had the most success for the Flames. Economides won her first event taking the one-meter board, while Gessford and Biancalana followed suit by finishing one-two in the 100-yard freestyle.

All told, the Flames won 10 events against the Panthers.

“The UIC women were a little better than we expected,” Padovan said. “We really weren’t in the meet, but I’m seeing some progress in the girls.”

In defeat, Jordan Sherbrooke still had a solid meet. The senior from Avon, Ind., won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events. The wins were the fifth and sixth for Sherbrooke in just three meets this year.

“Jordan really swam great for us in both the 200 and 500-yardfreestyle events,” Padovan said.

The men (1-2) and the women (0-3) will be back in action this weekend as Eastern hosts the Panther Invitational on next Friday and Saturday at the Lantz Natatorium.