EIU and the University of Indianapolis set multiple pool records at Eastern’s swim senior day.
Head coach Scott Teeters said that this was the fastest meet in Padovan Pool history as the men lost 176-86 and the women lost 193-62 on Saturday at the Ray Padovan Pool.
The meet started with a pool record set by the Indianapolis women in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:44.05.
The men continued getting pool records with EIU finishing in 1:30.82 in the men’s 200-yard medley relay.
After two races, two pool records were already broken.
Another 15 were broken throughout the meet.
The Indianapolis men broke 10 pool records in the 1000-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 50-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay. They also tied the 200-yard medley record.
The Indianapolis women broke the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
EIU was able to claim three more pool records themselves. Freshman Alexander Sadowski broke the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 49.72.
Senior Genevieve Biberdorf broke the 200-yard breaststroke pool record with a time of 2:20.78 and was second in school history.
She sat out during her sophomore season due to labrum surgery but was still able to get the pool record on her senior night.
Senior Zach Clark was able to get his first ever collegiate win including a pool and school record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44:31.
Teeters said that he loved how hard the swimmers fought towards the end of the races.
Clark did just that in the 200-yard freestyle. He was behind Indianapolis for most of the race, but he knew he had to kick it into high gear at the end of the race.
“I saw him in the corner of my eye. I was like, oh, I can chase him down,” Clark said. “And so, I just started digging. I was like, well, how special would it be to get a win against a team like this on Senior Night.”
Since 2017 the Indianapolis men have not finished below fifth place in the division two nationals championships with a first place finish in 2023.
“Zach Clark, he never has won an event in his entire collegiate career and he won the 200 free on his senior night, Kids gonna remember that his whole life,” Teeters said.
Six seniors were celebrated today even though there are four more home meets left on the season.
The six seniors were Clark, Canyon Bain, Sebastian Rosales, Biberdorf, Bella Earl and Sara Boric.
Clark said it was due to the fact of who the team was facing. Teeters wanted the seniors to be recognized on a day where they would all be challenged. Also Teeters wanted an alum to give some advice to the seniors and the team.
Indianapolis coach Brent Noble is an EIU alum.
“Not having been back in so long, getting to see and reminisce about what my college experience was like has been really fun,” Noble said.
Indianapolis also has a dive team, but they could not compete today as EIU does not have a pool for diving.
Noble said that he still wanted to come here since Eastern traveled to them last year.
“Loyalty is important. They came to us last year. We’re going to come to them,” Noble said. “They made the drive to us. It’s expensive to travel. To me, it’s really important that you return the favor.”
Earl just came back from a concussion that took her out for a month. She only raced in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay. However, she was just happy to be back.
“I was definitely glad that I was able to heal in enough time for my senior night. I’ve been working really hard on resting and getting better in order to swim at my senior night,” Earl said.
From the first meet of the year Teeters said that he was happy seeing the progress.
“It’s just a good solid group of young people that really want to pull together and do something,” Teeters said. “We got some Panther pride right now and I like that.”
The next meet for both teams is on Jan 17 against Evansville at the Padovan Pool.
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
