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Casey Roberts

Western Welcomes Saint Louis for Home Opener

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

The Billikens come to Brophy Hall for a dual meet

HOME OPENER
 
The Western Illinois swimming and diving teams play host to Saint Louis on Saturday (Nov. 9) in a dual meet inside Brophy Hall at 1 p.m.
 
LAST TIME IN THE POOL | The Western Illinois men's and women's swimming and diving programs officially got a feel for different competition in the South Dakota Quad Duals on Saturday (Nov. 2).
 
Adam Peterson netted fourth in the 50-free (21.10) and Brennan Bladel registered a sixth-place finish in the 200-back (1:58.05). Connor Owens also finished in sixth in the 200-breast (2:14.52).
 
Tyler Cunningham almost brought home an individual win in the 200-fly (1:56.83) but ultimately placed in second.
 
On the Western Illinois women's swimming side, newcomer Olivia Leslie logged 12th in an ultra-competitive 200-back (2:13.67). Another newcomer Allison Spielman came in ninth place out of 28 competitors in the 50-free (24.91) and Miranda Mathus finished seventh in the 100-IM with a time of 101.66.  
 
The Purple and Gold 200-medley relay team of Garret Kemp, Peterson, Owens and Bladel connected for fifth with a slot of 1:38.98. The women's 200-medley relay squadron of Leslie, Mathus, Spielman and Mathus touched in 1:51.69 for sixth place.
 
WELCOME BACK, COACH JOHANNSEN | Western Illinois University Director of Athletics Danielle Surprenant has announced the hiring of former Leatherneck swimmer Scott Johannsen as head coach of the WIU swimming and diving program.
 
As a student-athlete at Western Illinois, Johannsen swam for the Leathernecks from 1982-84 and was a team captain during the 1983-84 campaign.
 
Johannsen served as the head coach at Augustana College from 2008-14 and helped the Vikings become nationally ranked. He repeated as the CCIW 'Coach of the Year' from during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.
 
"I'm happy to be back on campus," Johannsen said. "I'm looking forward to lead Leatherneck swimming and diving to new heights. This is an excellent opportunity and I know where the teams stand at this point. It's exciting to get to know the student-athletes and be able to work with them."
 
While at Augustana, he coached 33 different student-athletes into the school's All-Time Top-10 list. Johannsen mentored 13 CCIW conference event champions and one CCIW swimmer of the year winner. His Viking teams also succeeded in the classroom with a total of 12 CCIW Academic All-Conference selections throughout his tenure.
 
The Davenport, Iowa native most recently served as the head coach of the Rock Island Country Orcas club team and was tasked with rebuilding the program that he swam for. From 2005-10, Johannsen helped develop numerous state championship qualifiers, state champions, Grand Prix, Junior National and National qualifiers as the head coach of the Pleasant Valley Stingray Swim Club head coach.

UP NEXT | Both Leatherneck squads head to the prestigious House of Champions meet in Indianapolis Nov. 22-24.
 
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