Results
MACOMB, Ill. — The Western Illinois women's swimming and diving team picked up four event wins in a dual meet against Saint Louis, but both the Fighting Leatherneck men and women fell to the Billikins.
The women's team suffered a 163-83 defeat while the men's team fell by a 176-75 margin.
The Western women's squad had a strong individually day despite falling in the team scoring. For the second-consecutive match, senior Laura Dinkelmann picked up a pair of wins, finishing first in both the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:08.77, and the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:22.60. Dinkelmann's time in the 200 butterfly improved upon her season-opening time of 2:09.90 against Missouri State and took over as the eighth-fastest time in school history.
Joining Dinkelmann as event winners were seniors Lauren Trondle in the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 10:59.74 and Taylor Martin in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 25.39. Trondle also picked up a second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:33.14.
“Laura and Lauren both had really good swims today,” Western Illinois coach Greg Naumann said. “Lauren swam incredibly smart. We talked about what we needed to dos trategy-wise and she pretty much hit the nail on the head.”
Other notable performances from the Leatherneck women included Jessica Schnaiter, Martin, Dinkelmann and Katie Regan's second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay in a tie of 4:09.57, Shawn Fitzpatrick's second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:03.21, Schnaiter's second-lace finish in the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 2:17.60 and Martin, Fitzpatrick, Trondle and Jamie Grau's second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:48.66.
On the men's side, the Leathernecks weren't able to pick up any event wins although Brandon Wilkinson and Jeff Davis both picked up two second-place finishes and helped Western's 400-yard freestyle relay team to a second-place finish.
Wilkinson came in second in both the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:49.59 and the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:01.17 while Davis took second in the 400-yard IM in a time of 4:27.94 and the 100-yard freestyle i a time of 50.23. Mike Regan, Wilkinson, Davis and Phil Kurz finished second in the 400-freestyle relay in a time of 3:20.01.
“Jeff Davis had a really good 400 IM,” Naumann said. “That was only his first time swimming that.”
Overall, Naumann said he is already seeing improvements in his team between its first and second meets of the season.
“Today was 100 times better than what I saw out of them last week The more they get used to swimming, the more they are learning how to get up and race,” Naumann said. “I know some of them were still pretty sore from the things we continue to do to prepare for meets. We are learning to swim smart now so they won't have to think about it as much during the end of the season — it will just come naturally at that point.”
The Leathernecks women's squad will travel to Normal, Ill., to take on Illinois State Saturday, Oct. 31, while both teams will be back in action Saturday, Nov. 7 when Western travels to Charleston, Ill., to face Eastern Illinois in a dual meet.
