Fresh off decisive meets against Western Illinois and first place finishes in the Panther Invitational, the Eastern swim teams go into Saturday’s meet with Evansville, confident, but definitely not cocky.

Last week saw the men and the women tally their largest point totals (146 and 145 respectively), and head coach Ray Padovan credits that to consistently performing better week after week.

“We just try to keep swimming well, and let the scores take care of themselves,” Padovan said. “We try to get better as the season continues.”

Get better is definitely what both teams have done. The men (2-2) won their second meet of the year at Xavier, and have won two meets as of late, one being a tournament. The women (1-3) started off a little slow, but have come on as of late, also winning two meets.

Both teams have gotten equal contributions from all their swimmers, but none have been more important than freshman Ben Senese for the men and senior Jordan Sherbrooke for the women.

Senese has had first place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle in all of the Panthers’ first four meets. Along with senior Rich Wahlgen (200-yard freestyle) and junior Tom Watson (1000-yard and 500-yard freestyles), Senese has consistently lead the Panthers, individually and as a part of relay teams.

Most coaches would expect that much out of Wahlgen and Watson, being as experienced as they are, but not many would expect Senese to come in his first year and contribute as much as he has already. Not even him.

“I didn’t expect to be performing this well, this early in my first year,” Senese said. “I knew I had it in me, but I didn’t expect it this early.”

Padovan also knew that Senese had it in him to be a good swimmer at the college level, but he also did not expect his contributions to be this big this early.

“He was good in high school, and he has just continued to get better and better,” Padovan said. “We even have him swimming some different things then he was in high school, and he’s been just great for us.”