The Salukis seek to be the top dog in the weekend’s three-team meet, as they take on the Wildcats and Tigers.

This is the first meet in three weeks for the SIU women’s swimming and diving team, while the men’s team is coming off Monday’s 38-point win against Division II Missouri University of Science and Technology. The tri-meet, with the University of Kentucky and the University of Missouri, will take place Saturday in Lexington, Ky.

The Saluki men held their own last season when they beat Kentucky, but narrowly lost to Missouri by a 12-point margin.

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Senior freestyle swimmer Jared Bradd stretches Thursday during swim practice at Edward J. Shea Natatorium in the Recreation Center. The Saluki swimming and diving team will compete at 10 a.m. Saturday against the University of Kentucky and University of Missouri in Lexington. Nathan hoefert | Daily Egyptian

After their performance during the 2010-2011 season, senior Steve Wood said he knows what it takes to compete against these two teams.

“It’s a whole different race when you’re facing a program like Kentucky or Mizzou, a program that has a very good history of great swimmers,” he said. “You know you’re going to have to bring your best mentally and physically.”

Swimmers prepare a little differently than most other athletes, said senior Justin Wolfe. He said every meet during the season is important, and while swimmers want to be at their best during the conference meets, a chance to face two top teams brings out the best in all of the swimmers.

“You can tell around the pool the atmosphere is different,” Wolfe said. “Last week we faced a D-II school, and this week we’re facing some of the fastest teams in the nation. It’s very good for us to swim against these big teams because we know we’re good enough to swim with them, and it’s good to prove it.”

Training during this part of the season can really wear down a swimmer’s body, said assistant coach Scott Olson. He said if the swimmers take proper care of themselves, though, they should be able to perform at their peak.

“The adjustment of them as far as the breakdown (of muscles), they’ve adjusted to that,” Olson said. “They’re still sore, they’re still tired, but they’re adjusting to the workload. When they do have free time, they take advantage of it and stay off their feet and recover.”

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The women’s team was not able to do as well as the men in last year’s meet against Kentucky and Mizzou.

Groome was the only athlete to achieve a first-place finish during the meet. Senior Kristin Geppert said the team will kick its game into a higher gear this season.

“We know it’s going to be a hard race; some pretty fast swimmers are going to be there,” Geppert said. “We’ll just try to make the best of it and use them to make us swim faster.”

Senior diver Justin Ruszkowski swept the events last season, winning both the one-meter and three-meter dives; however, last year’s event was a home meet for the Salukis. This year they will be at Kentucky’s Lancaster Aquatic Center. Ruszkowski said each pool has different boards, which can affect dives.

“It’s always a matter of getting used to the other team’s board; every board has its own feel,” Ruszkowski said. “We do a lot of warm-up drills when we go to meets to get used to the boards. If I can get a good feel for the boards, then all should go well.”