The men’s and women’s swimming teams swept Western Illinois and Butler in a tri-meet at Padovan Pool on Saturday for senior night and the final home meet for the Panthers.

The men’s team defeated Western Illinois with a final score of 180.5 to 83.5, taking first in eight of the first nine events.

The men took home 11 first-place finishes, led by junior Scott House who took individual honors by winning the 50-freestyle with a time of 21.21 seconds and the 100-freestyle at 46.21, while also adding a 20.52 final leg to the 200-freestyle in a win.

The men swept multiple events as well, including the 50-breaststroke as Race Archibald took first with a time of 27.91 before sophomore Jarod Farrow and senior Chris Dixon finished second and third.

Eastern also took the top three spots in the 100-backstroke as sophomore Andrew Crouse won with a 55.03 time, just edging out junior Ethan Doyle who took second with a 55.53 time. Sophomore Alex Adams rounded out the top three for the Panthers with a 56.40 finish.

The final event with a one-two-three finish for Eastern was the 400 individual medley in which Joel Talley led the way with a 4:20.26 time, and Austin Kueck along with Greg Hample took second and third with times of 4:25.11 and 4:32.41, respectively.

The lone senior for the men’s team was Dixon who finished first in the 1000-freestyle, coming in at 10:05.95, just over five seconds ahead of Hample, who finished second.

The women had a strong day as well, downing Western Illinois 178 to 80 and finishing off Butler 140 to 126 and taking eight event wins overall.

The women’s team had five seniors- Julia Martin, Karleen Gernady, Rachel Manderscheid, Gloria Gonzales and Jaelyn Williams–and they all participated in the 100-freestyle together for one final competitive swim together.

Junior Sarah Lohman ultimately won the event with a time of 55.08.

Sophomore Sabrina Chu took two first-place finishes in individual events with a time of 1:58.85 in the 200-freestyle and a 5:22.84 finish in the 500-freestyle. She also posted the fastest leg of the 200-freestyle relay at 24.65 in a win.

Three others won individual events as well, with freshman Ashley Glesing taking first in the 50-breastroke, sophomore Lily Schafer winning the 50-freestyle and freshman Matti Friesz winning the 100-backstroke.

Both teams’ final meet of the year comes at the Summit League Championships that take place Feb. 19 to Feb. 22.

Oscar Rzodkiewicz can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].