Swimmer of the Week: Samantha Parsons, Southern Illinois, Freshman

Diver of the Week: Courtney Coverdale, Evansville, Junior

In a duel meet against Southern Illinois this weekend, Coverdale posted a 244.35 1-Meter score for second place. She then took third on 3-Meter with a 233.17.

Weekend Recap:

CARBONDALE, ILL. - The Southern Illinois University swimming and diving team concluded their regular season today with a pair of wins against the Evansville Purple Aces. The men's team won, 170-66, and the women's team won, 164-79. The meet started off with the women, in the 100-yard medley relay. Sarah James, Riley Schroedter, Emma Brazeau, and Kristina Ksarjian took first place, defeating UE by .17 seconds. The men followed the women with a relay of their own, the 400-yard medley relay. SIU was lead by their four seniors, Bobby Wood, Filippo Dell'Olio, Andre Brilhante, and Andy Ross out touched the second place finisher by .10 seconds. SIU continued their early success when the meet transitioned to the longer events, the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle. Nicole Fuller finished with the best time in the 500-yard freestyle to lead SIU, and freshman Kevin Kluge grabbed the top spot in the 1,000-yard freestyle. SIU won the next two events before losing the 25-yard freestyle. The Salukis, however, finished second through fifth in the race. Senior Bobby Wood got SIU back on track, swimming to a first place finish in the 50-yard freestyle. He was the only swimmer that recorded a time under 22 seconds. Samantha Parsonsclimbed on the blocks next for SIU, as she out touched Emma Brazeau for a first place finish in the 100-yard IM. In the final event before the break Saluki senior, Filippo Dell'Olio, swam to a beat of 4:04.21 in the 400-yard IM to take first place. After ten events SIU had won nine of them. Out of the break the Salukis got it done on the board. Newcomer, Baobao Ji, finished with a score of 271.42 to win the one-meter on the women's side. Freshmen, Eli Mercado and Kai Hoffmann-Dussome, finished second and third for the men in the one meter.  Evansville grabbed their third win of the meet in the 50-yard butterfly. Danielly Freeman out touched SIU's Emma Brazeau by .02 seconds for the victory. Dell'Olio, Bryn Handley, Brilhante, James, Ryan Lehane, Lauren Stockton, Nolan Fahey, and Ji all picked up wins through the next eight events, furthering their overall lead. SIU finished out the meet winning three of the final five events to seal their victory. All eight seniors that competed in today's meet finished in first place at least once, ending their SIU careers on top. 

CARBONDALE, Ill.  –  Swimming and Diving traveled to Carbondale this morning for the final regular season meet of 2016-17. The Aces fought hard, but the Salukis took the win by a final score of 164-79. Junior Danielle Freeman paced the women with a handful of individual wins. She took the 25 freestyle with a final time of 12.09. She continued to win the 50 butterfly by a margin of .02 seconds at a 26.64. Senior Michaela Kent followed with a pair of second place finishes. She clocked in a 53. 27 in the 100 freestyle and 24.79 in the 50 freestyle. Sophomore Madi Jones stepped out of her comfort zone to take an effortless second place in the 500 freestyle at a 5:16.79. Freshman Ashton Adams followed for a fourth place 5:22.73, and fifth place sophomore Megan Schremp posted a 5:28.84. Sophomore Sam Gowdy led the Aces in the 50 backstroke taking third place with a final time of 28. 36. Senior Taylor Davidson followed in fourth and freshman Kristy Kupfer in fifth at 28.57 and 29.16 respectively. Freshman Alaina Sylvester took third place in the 50 breaststroke, dropping her seed time by nearly .4 seconds to finish at a 31.83. Also dropping time was junior Kayla Aitken with a sixth place finish 32.90 and sophomore Amy Smith with a seventh place 33.76. The ladies finished the day with a win in the 100 Freestyle Relay. Freeman, sophomore Kaylee Gubricky, freshman Emma Hennessy, and Jones took a final time of 46.49. On the diving side, junior Courtney Coverdale posted a 244.35 1-Meter score for second place, while junior Kasey Rein took fifth with 157.28 and freshman Alyssa Vonder Haar's 147.68 was good for sixth. Coverdale took third on 3-Meter with a 233.17. Vonder Haar placed fifth with 152.17. 

IOWA CITY--The University of Northern Iowa women's swimming and diving team went 1-1 in dual competition tonight. The Panthers defeated the Western Illinois Leathernecks, 163-55 and fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 147-73. Molly Lembezeder grabbed the sole first-place finish for the Panthers in the 100 freestyle, timing in at fifty-two second and .78 hundredths of a second. Lembezeder took second in the 50 freestyle, swimming a time of 23.91. Lembezeder teamed up with Crystal Florman, Autumn Roepsch and Aftin Phyfe for a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle, timing in at 1:37.57. Kylie Engstrom nabbed second in the 500 freestyle, swimming a 5:12.68. Jordan McCullough and Stephanie Jackson followed in third and fourth places, with times of 5:15.92 and 5:20.20 respectively. Katie Taylor nabbed third place in the 100 IM, timing in at 59.59. Rachel Siebenaller swam into third place in the 200 freestyle, timing in at 1:56.30. Roepsch led the way for the Panthers in the 50 backstroke in third place, timing in at 30.26. Moriah Ross and Olivia Knowles followed in fourth and fifth places, timing in at 30.52 and 30.92 respectively. Madison Rinaldi swam into fourth place in the 50 backstroke, timing in at 27.39. Florman led the Panthers in the 50 butterfly in fifth place, swimming a 26.08. Kelsey Ostrowski and Alexa Klimes also finished in the top-8, with times of 27.57 and 28.38, respectively. Taylor, Florman and Phyfe teamed up with Veronica Herrmann in the 400 medley relay, swimming a 3:55.92. In diving action, Hannah Brummel led the way in the 1-meter diving, scoring a 222.15. Emma Billerbeck and Alyssa Deuso followed with scores of 199.40 and 191.25. In 3-meter action, Deuso led the way, diving a score of 219.80. Brummel finished in fifth, scoring a 218.30. Billerbeck rounded out competition with a score of 203.55.

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Illinois State diving team finished the Illinois-Chicago Diving Invitational Saturday, as Redbirds Emma Butts, Kristen Larson and Kelsey Toland competed at the meet. No team scores were kept. Toland had the highest point total for the diving team in the 1-meter dive, with 199.60 points. Larsonearned 170.65 points in the event, while Butts totaled 124.20 points. Larson led the Redbirds in the 3-meter diving event, finishing with a score of 187.30. Toland finished with 180.10 points in the 3-meter diving, followed by Butts with 121.30 points.

Schedule for February- March 2017