Results
CHARLESTON, Ill. — Western Illinois swimmers Laura Dinkelmann, Jeff Davis and Taylor Martin combined for five event wins in a dual meet at Eastern Illinois Friday, but the effort wasn't enough to top the host Panthers.
Eastern outscored the Fighting Leathernecks 166-90 on the women's side and took a 169-85 advantage in the women's contest. Despite the outcome, the Western swimmers had a strong day with 14 season bests in the team's first event in nearly a month.
“I was incredibly impressed with what the team did today overall,” said Western Illinois coach Greg Naumann. “The training the team had over the past two weeks was the toughest this team has ever seen. Some of our swimmers had a tough set yesterday afternoon. It's tough not only physically, but mentally to put in the back of their minds how tired and sore they are. Most of them swam within a few seconds of their season-bests.”
Dinkelmann and Davis each picked up two event wins to bolster their already strong season resumes. Dinkelmann picked up her seventh win of the season in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:06.37 which not only broke the pool record by more than three seconds, but also landed on the No. 6 spot in the Western Illinois record book. The senior also added a win in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:20.65.
Davis opened his day with a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 10:04.99 before turning around and sweeping the distance events with a win in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:52.75.
Martin not only won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:00.12, but also placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.64.
Senior Lauren Trondle took second in the 1,000-yard freestyle in a season-best time of 10:59.64 and later picked up another second-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:15.07. Freshman Josh Davis also had a pair of second-place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:21.45) and the 200-yard individual medley.
Other second-place finishers included Alayna Colley in the 50-yard freestyle (25.81), Jessica Schnaiter in the 200-yard backstroke (2:16.34), Brian Demijan in the 200-yard backstroke (2:05.51), Jamie Grau in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:32.74) and Mike Regan in the 100-yard butterfly (55.32).
In relay action, the women's 200-yard medley relay team of Colley, Grau, Dinkelmann and Martin finished second in 1:52.38 (a season best), and the same combination later placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:50.46. Also, the men's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Brandon Wilkinson, Regan, Jeff Davis and Phil Kurz took second in 3:20.60.
The Leathernecks welcome Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the Brophy Hall Pool for a dual meet at 3 p.m. Jan. 30.
