The SIU swimming and diving team had two dominant performances to open its season.

The SIU men’s and women’s swim teams finished in first place in the SIU Miler Friday at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium against Illinois State University. The men took first in the 5K Open Water Festival at Grassy Lake in Marion. The women’s team tied for first with University of Missouri.

Head coach Rick Walker said the team swam great, especially with two meets back-to-back.

‘We have a pretty gritty group of swimmers and we’re not going to back down to anybody,’ Walker said. ‘We are going to keep doing what we’re doing.’

Freshman Kirsten Groome placed first out of 18 participants at the SIU Miler with a time of 16 minutes, 24.12 seconds while sophomore Jennifer Kwok came in second with a time of 17:38.86.

On the men’s side, sophomore Matt Parsons placed first with a time of 16:23.28 and sophomore Cesar Perez followed close behind in second with a time of 16:41.46.

‘We’ve been training really hard this season, a lot harder than last season and we have a great freshmen class this year and they have been pushing us to train hard to keep up,’ Perez said.

The Salukis carried their success from the SIU Miler over to the Open Water Festival on Saturday in the five-kilometer race where each school fielded a team of three men and three women.

SIU competed against Illinois State University, University of Evansville and University of Missouri.

Parsons, sophomore Matt Kruse and freshman Barrett Mark represented SIU. The trio combined for a time of 177 minutes, 84 seconds to take first place. Parsons and Kruse finished with a time of 59:15 and 59:17, respectively. Mark followed with a time of 59:52.

Groome, Kwok and senior Keli Kramer tied for first place with a combined time of 189 minutes, 82 seconds. Groome finished with a time of 59:32. Kwok and Kramer finished in the top-15 with a time of 64:48 and 66:02, respectively.

Groome said it was nice to see her teammates out in the open waters having fun.

‘I love open water swimming,’ Groome said. ‘It was a great experience to be out in open waters again and to see my teammates enjoying it.

The Salukis head to Evansville, Ind., on Wednesday for their first dual meet competition of the 2009-10 season.