The last time the Saluki swimming and diving teams faced the University of Kansas, swimmers and coaches of both teams were distracted.

Three days before SIUC’s scheduled dual meet, Kansas senior and co-captain Seth Dunscomb collapsed during swim practice. The Jayhawks coaches insisted not to cancel the meet, but the effects were definitely apparent on both teams.

It was difficult to concentrate on the competition, but we wanted to support the KU swimmers through that experience, SIUC men’s coach Rick Walker said. I don’t think our swimmers will be affected [similarly] during this year’s meet.

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SIUC lost to a determined Jayhawk squad, who dedicated the meet to Dunscomb. Saturday, the Salukis will play host to the Jayhawks, ranked 21st in the nation, nearly one year after the incident.

SIUC is coming off an impressive 222 point victory over Southwest Missouri State University Dec. 6 to claim the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.

The victory was expected, Walker said. But we were surprised by the amount of the victory.

Swimmer Jeff Clark claimed his fourth consecutive 50-meter freestyle victory with a time of 20.96 seconds. First-place honors also went to Jeff Clark in the 50-meter freestyle for the fourth consecutive year.

Other Saluki victors were Steve Munz in the 100-meter backstroke (51.38), Luke Wotruba in the 200-meter butterfly (1:53.48) and Ryan Gallagher in the 200-meter freestyle (1:41.79).

Alex Wright dove to his third straight 1-meter victory with a score of 508.5 and set a new MVC record in the 3-meter competition with 555.15 points. Liam Weseloh won his third straight 500-meter freestyle championship (4:34.54).

Weseloh and Nathan Stooke are returning from solid performances in the 25K Open Water event at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, last weekend. Stooke led the United States with a 13-place finish in a time of 5:32:20.08, while Weseloh followed with a time of 5:34:53.3, finishing 15th for Canada.

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Stooke is just as concerned with rebounding from last year’s loss as recalling last year’s tragedy.

We will remember that [Dunscomb] is gone, Stooke said. But we will also remember they took it to us. We are going try to dish it back and let them know this is a new year.

At the beginning of this season, Saluki women’s coach Mark Kluemper had his work cut out for him.

Though the Salukis finished a close second to Illinois State University in the 1996 MVC Tournament, he had to throw 14 freshman into the roster and contend for the 1997 MVC Championship.

With as many new people we had, I was concerned with that many people trying to bond and function as a team, Kluemper said. I think our success has a lot to do with the seniors leading the team.

The freshman are already ahead of the game. Solid performances by Beth Ann Erickson, Merry Smith and Lee Frye in the MVC tournament impressed Kluemper. If the freshman class continues to improve, Kluemper and his group of experienced seniors expect to see star swimmers emerge.

The freshman have been awesome, senior Stefanie Merritt said. There is no one person that stands out above the rest. They have all done really well, dropping times and achieving personal bests.

Merritt is only one of the seniors who have impressed Kluemper with leadership abilities. Others include Kiki Sidiropoulou, Diana Roberts and Karla Gerzema.

Many of the SIUC coaches and swimmers knew Seth Dunscomb. But with 14 freshman, the Salukis should not be affected by last year’s events.

We will take into consideration the anniversary and give respect to [Dunscomb’s] family, Merritt said. Hopefully, we can pull it together, and hopefully we’ll both swim well.

The SIUC swimming and diving teams open the spring season against the University of Kansas at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Recreation Center.