The Panther Invitational held in Lantz Natorium may have been a competition between five teams, but this particular event served as a rematch.

Both the men’s and women’s teams had struggled against Evansville, and they both wanted to make a statement.

They did.

Both teams won their meets.

The men won again, scoring 603.5 points, and the women’s team placed first, avenging a one-point loss they suffered Oct. 28.

Eastern met the Purple Aces again along with other Mid-Continent Conference opponents Lincoln and Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis with outside opponent Lewis.

The men scored 603.5 points, and Evansville scored 555, followed by IUPUI’s 470.5.

“We knew we were winning by four points going into the final relay, but we knew if we were going to win, we were going to have to swim well in the final relay,” said sophomore Kevin Boyle.

The Panthers gave credit to the competition, especially Evansville, knowing it would not be an easy victory.

“We know that they’re a good team,” Boyle said. “We knew that it would be close again.”

The women’s team knew this as well.

“We knew Evansville would be tough competition since we had lost to them,” said sophomore Sheila Dugan.

The women’s team won more convincingly, scoring 703.5 points, with the Purple Aces finishing second with 607.3 points.

Though the focus might seem to be on Evansville, Dugan said the team had prepared for all of the competition equally.

“We were focused on all of the teams,” Dugan said.

The history of the meet has tended to go toward the Panthers, and it is a meet that head coach Ray Padovan always wants to do well in.

“We knew this was a big meet,” Noble said. “We usually win this every year. We knew he (Padovan) wanted to win it.”

Big performances by Bill Senese and Brittany Wininger helped Eastern come away from the victory. The two topped nearly every event they were in.

Another factor in the win was the fact that Eastern swam in their home pool.

“It’s really nice to swim at home,” Dugan said. “It’s such a long meet, it lasts two days, but having family there and being at home, it’s pretty important.”

The Panthers next opponent will be Saturday at Western Illinois.