Saturday’s dual meet between Eastern Illinois University and Valparaiso has been canceled because of COVID-19 contact tracing within the Eastern Illinois program.
Valparaiso swam a tri meet at Southern Illinois and Little Rock on Friday and was due to swing through Charleston for a dual with Eastern Illinois before crossing back across the border to their home in Indiana.
The meet was due to be Eastern Illinois’ final home meet of the season and, therefore, their senior meet. The team was due to honor 8 seniors including men’s team members Race Archibald, Andrew Crouse, Ethan Dolan, Scott House and Austin Kueck; and women’s team members Erin Farley, Sarah Lohman and Lindsey Wood.
Those swimmers will be eligible for another year of college swimming, as will all swimmers who participate in this year’s NCAA Division I swimming & diving season, though not all will take advantage of that.
The teams are scheduled for another matchup in Valparaiso on March 27, where Southern Illinois will also race. That will be both programs’ final regular-season meet prior to their respective conference championship meets.
In the school’s most recent reporting period, from February 28 through March 6, there were 0 reported cases of COVID-19 among employees of Eastern Illinois and students at Eastern Illinois residing in Coles County.