Eastern Illinois vs Valparaiso
- Saturday, October 23, 2021
- Valparaiso, IN
Courtesy: Eastern Illinois Athletics
Eastern Illinois Men’s and Women’s swimming earned their first victories of the season after traveling to Valparaiso on Saturday to face the Crusaders. This was the first career win for head coach Tyler Donges. The men’s team won by a score of 155-107, and the women’s won by a score of 167-95. The men’s team had eight first place finishers on the day, and the women’s had 11 first place finishers.
WOMEN’S RECAP:
The women’s team started the day right with a win in the women’s 200 yard medley relay. The team of Olivia Viele, Ashley Glesing, Kaylan Ottosen, and Camryn Lewis took first place with a time of 1:50.54. Kennedy Darensbough followed suit winning the women’s 1000 yard freestyle with a time of 11:08.35.
Maddie Pittman joined the action during the fifth event as she won the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.71. Viele won her second event of the afternoon taking home first in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.04. Ottosen also won her second event in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.85.
Autumn Grinter earned back-to-back victories in meets after winning the 100 yard freestlye with a time of 54.95. She is the only EIU indivdual swimmer to win in both meets the season. Glesing came back later in the meet to pick up her second win of the afternoon after winning the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:35.39.
First time winner Emma Ballantyne also won today as she placed first in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:24.28. Two events later, Ottosen won her third event against Valparaiso as she won the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 59.62. She was the only swimmer to be under a minute in that event.
Ballantyne finished first in the 200 yard IM with a time of 2:14.73. This was her second win of the afteroon. Finally, the women’s team of Lewis, Ottosen, Grinter, and Sabrina Chu took home first in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:39.79.
MEN’S RECAP:
Just like the women’s team, the men also won the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:36.97. Forrest Baumgartner, Collin Feliciano, Alex Adams, and Payton Buse took home first in that event. Freshman Conner Colston won his first event in the 200 yard freestlye with a time of 1:43.93.
Baumgartner picked up his second win of the day in the 100 yard backstroke. He posted a time of 54.92 which earned EIU nine points. Dismas Dillion joined in on the action after he took first in the 50 yard freestyle winning with a time of 21.30.
Colston won his second event of his career Saturday afternoon after winning the 100 yard freestlye with a time of 47.70. Adams also won his second event of the afternoon after finishing first in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:01.49.
Senior Jarod Farrow won the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:59.48 beating the next swimmer by three seconds. The men’s afternoon came to a close with a win after the 200 yard freestlye team of Buse, Jacob Nichols, Colston, and Baumgartner posted a time of 1:26.06.
Both teams will be back at Padovan Pool next Friday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. when Ball State travels to Charleston. Ball State placed third out of 10 teams at the Indiana Intercollegiates earlier this month with that being their only action of the season so far.
Courtesy: Valparaiso Athletics
The Valpo men’s and women’s swimming teams competed in the first of three scheduled home meets on Saturday at the Valparaiso Aquatic Center at Valpo H.S., combining for nine first-place event finishes in a dual meet with Eastern Illinois.
How It Happened
- Two Valpo men posted a pair of individual event victories on Saturday. Freshman Ethan Welker (Clear Spring, Md./Saint James School) touched the wall first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:57.94, 10th-best in program history in the event. Later in the meet, Welker took top honors with a time of 2:00.56 in the 200 IM.
- Senior Billy Bennett (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) swept the breaststroke events, claiming the 100 breast in 59.11 and the 200 breast in 2:17.04.
- Freshman Alex Koetter (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) took first place in the 1000 free with a time of 10:21.95, while senior Derek Eidson (Ventura, Calif./Ventura) rounded out Valpo’s event winners on the men’s side with a 53.37 swim in the 100 fly.
- On the women’s side, Valpo claimed three individual wins. Freshman Sara Strauss (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) took first place in the 100 breast with a time of 1:09.83, just hundredths of a second outside Valpo’s all-time top-10 in the event.
- Fellow rookie Bridget Pollard (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) trounced the field in the 200 fly with a time of 2:16.80, while junior Sophie Morelock (Milan, Mich./Milan) won the 200 back, touching the wall in 2:16.21.
- Among a myriad of second-place finishes by the Valpo women were two from Pollard to go with her 200 fly win. Pollard came home second in both the 100 fly (1:01.07) and the 200 IM (2:21.00).
- Other second-place showings on the women’s side included freshman Haley Hume (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette) in the 200 free (2:02.25), sophomore Kenzie Conn (Celina, Ohio/Celina) in the 100 back (1:03.85), freshman Morgan Allison (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) in the 200 fly (2:25.31), senior Chiara Robinson (Castle Pines, Colo./Rock Canyon) in the 50 free (25.49) and freshman Dot Chislett (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) in the 200 breast (2:36.42).
- On the men’s side, senior Dominic May (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) narrowly missed an event win in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:44.18, just a quarter-second out of the top spot. Eidson picked up a second-place finish in the 100 back (55.47) to go with his 100 fly win.
- Eastern Illinois claimed team victories by scores of 167-95 (women) and 155-107 (men).
Next Up
The Valpo women return to action with a dual meet at UNI next Friday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. The men compete next in a tri-meet at the Valparaiso Aquatic Center next Saturday, Oct. 30 versus Green Bay and Youngstown State at 2 p.m.