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Men's Swimming and Diving Saturday, January 21, 2017 WIU Athletic Communications

Neaveill Dominates Senior Day, Hagen and Siebert Nearly Set Pool Records

Western Illinois falls in dual meet to South Dakota

FULL MEET RESULTS

MACOMB, Ill. – Competing on his Senior Day, Chris Neaveill won two events and Erica Hagen and Kyle Siebert each threatened a Brophy Hall pool record Saturday (Jan. 21), but Western Illinois dropped their dual meet with South Dakota, with the men falling 140-100, and the women losing 148-83.

Hagen rolled in the 200-breast, narrowly missing the pool record with a time of 2:26.24, but winning the event by nearly 12 seconds. Siebert's 2:09.40 time also barely missed a pool record, but won him the 200-breast by less than a second.

"We had a couple of close calls on new pool records from Erica Hagen and Kyle Siebert, both in the 200-breaststroke, but they came up just a touch shy," said head coach Greg Naumann. "They both were on track to beat the two pool records, but just got a little too fatigued to finish. Last night's racing, and the past three weeks of training have definitely been tough on the team, so it was anticipated to be a little tired at the end of our longer races."

Meanwhile, in his final home meet, Neaveill scored a pair of individual victories. The senior surged to a win in the 100-IM with a mark of 54.60 before gliding to the top in the 200-fly in 1:59.22. Neaveill also teamed with Seth Brady, Samir Almhiemid and Chance McQuigg to win the 200-free relay in 1:26.29.

Almhiemid and McQuigg each chipped in individual victories of their own. The former burst for a 22.08 time in the 50-free, with Josh Hill coming in third in 23.01. McQuigg breezed through the 100-free in 47.38 to take the event.

On the women's side, Hagen (1:01.52) and Miranda Mathus (1:02.17) finished back-to-back to take the 100-IM. Casey Roberts then slanted to win the 100-free in 54.27. Western's 200-free relay team of Marissa Purdum, Alli DeWane, Mathus and Roberts also took the event in 1:40.92. The Leathernecks' 200-medley relay squadron of Taylor Winkel, Hagen, Dana Kaftan and Roberts finished second with a time of 1:54.60.

"We had a good meet," Naumann said. "We had a quick turnaround, which resulted in some sore and tired athletes. However, as the meet progressed, and the team started to loosen up, we saw some better swimming. We are definitely in a lot of the races that we didn't win, which is a good sign of what the Summit League Championships will look like."

The WIU men's 200-medley relay team of Almhiemid, McQuigg, Hill and Brady chipped in for second in 1:37.79, narrowly missing first by 16 milliseconds. Deven Ries also came in second in the 1000-free (10:15.95) and Brennan Bladel did the same in the 200-back (2:01.13).

Quetzal Gallagher came in third in both the men's 1-meter (235.50) and 3-meter (244.80) dives. Senior Melanie Pearson also recorded third with a score of 227.20 in the women's 1-meter.

The Leathernecks are back in action with a 1 p.m. dual meet on Saturday (Jan. 28) at Washington University in St. Louis.

"As we look forward to next week against WashU, they will be a very tough opponent," said Naumann. "We will have a full event list, which is a bit longer than what we saw against South Dakota each day. The team is ready, and starting to go for in-season/lifetime best times. I'm very pleased with how we look right now, and I expect the team to get even faster as we finish the last two dual meets."

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Players Mentioned

Samir Almhiemid: Fly/Back; Sophomore; Chelsea

Seth Brady: Sprint Free; Sophomore; Valley

Quetzal Gallagher: Diving; Sophomore; Pueblo County

Chance McQuigg: Breast/IM; Sophomore; Richwoods

Chris Neaveill: Sprint Free/Fly; Senior; Peoria Notre Dame

Deven Ries: Distance Free; Senior; Pekin

Kyle Siebert: Breast; Junior; Mundelein

Erica Hagen: Breast/Sprint Free; Sophomore; Lisle

Dana Kaftan: Free; Sophomore; De Pere/Lindsey-Wilson College

Melanie Pearson: Diving; Senior; Franklin

Marissa Purdum: Sprint Free; Sophomore; Burlington Community

Taylor Winkel: Back; Junior; Lincoln

Players Mentioned

Samir Almhiemid
: Sophomore; Chelsea
: Fly/Back

Seth Brady
: Sophomore; Valley
: Sprint Free

Quetzal Gallagher
: Sophomore; Pueblo County
: Diving

Chance McQuigg
: Sophomore; Richwoods
: Breast/IM

Chris Neaveill
: Senior; Peoria Notre Dame
: Sprint Free/Fly

Deven Ries
: Senior; Pekin
: Distance Free

Kyle Siebert
: Junior; Mundelein
: Breast

Erica Hagen
: Sophomore; Lisle
: Breast/Sprint Free

Dana Kaftan
: Sophomore; De Pere/Lindsey-Wilson College
: Free

Melanie Pearson
: Senior; Franklin
: Diving

Marissa Purdum
: Sophomore; Burlington Community
: Sprint Free

Taylor Winkel
: Junior; Lincoln
: Back