MACOMB, Ill. - The 2010-11 edition of Western Illinois Swimming and Diving is beginning to gain momentum with stronger swims in the past two meets (TYR/CollegeSwimming.com Invite & Illinois-Chicago). In addition, Brandon Wilkinson and Brianna Eizenga were both named Summit League Athletes of the Week the last time the Fighting Leathernecks competed.

The Panthers of Eastern Illinois will invade Brophy Hall on Saturday at 1 p.m. and look slow down that aforementioned momentum. The men's squad have collected victories at IUPUI, Ball State, Evansville and Lincoln College. Their most recent result was a 2nd place finish at the Tunica Invitational in Tunica, Miss. The women also competed in Tunica and collected a 4th place finish.

This will be the first action for Western since a Dec. 18 clash with Illinois-Chicago. The long layoff does not seem to bother head coach Greg Naumann.

"We have actually been back on campus for about two weeks by the time Saturday rolls around, which helps. However, we are in the middle of the hardest part of our training so far. The team will be tired from the regiment they have gone through the past two weeks but I look for them to get up and race well against Eastern."

"We do have a pretty strong rivalry with Eastern that goes back to at least when I swam for Western (1998-2002). We do tend to step up and race a bit faster when in the pool with them. They have a strong program on the men's side and a solid group on the women's side, so it will be a tough meet for us."