The Western Kentucky University swimming and diving team returns to Bill Powell Natatorium this week, as the team hosts the Hilltopper Open from Nov. 21-23.
WKU takes on the field of Akron, Illinois State, Missouri-Rolla and the University of the Cumberlands, as the competition’s events begin on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. with prelims before finals that night at 6:30 p.m.
Friday also gets started at 10:30 a.m. with prelims followed by all the diving events at 1:30 p.m. and finals at 6:30 p.m. Saturday wraps up the Hilltopper Open with prelims at 9:30 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m.
Both teams swept the field last season, as the Lady Toppers tallied 878.5 points and the men’s team scored 1,021. WKU totaled eight new pool records in last year’s event, including recently-named college swimming National Swimmer of the Week Allie Duff in the 200 back. The University of the Cumberlands is the only returning team from last year’s meet.
Duff helped WKU to a win over Cincinnati in the team’s last meet. The Ontario, Canada, native broke three Keating Aquatic Center records on her way to four wins and a 195-102 victory over the Bearcats. Senior Heitor Rodrigues set a pool record in the 100 fly, as the Hilltoppers won 195-101. WKU also swept six events after grabbing the top three spots.
After the Hilltopper Open, most of the Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers will conclude their semester while select WKU swimmers will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., for the USA Short-Course National Championships Dec. 5-7. The next scheduled event will be Jan. 11, 2014, against Florida Atlantic and Nova Southeastern in Weston, Fla.
For more information on WKU swimming and diving, visit WKUSports.com or follow the team on Twitter via @WKUSwimDive and @WKUSwimInfo and on Facebook with WKU Swimming and Diving.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of WKU Swimming and Diving.