If any of the SIUC men’s and women’s swimming and diving team members were struggling with the pressure of competition, this weekend’s Illini Classic gave them a chance to relax.

The Saluki coaches sat back and observed the meet. They did not intervene, allowing the swimmers to motivate themselves in hopes of taking any expectations off of the swimmers.

The meet was relaxed, SIUC men’s coach Rick Walker said. We just let things happen as they went.

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Without any pressure, the SIUC men scored 1,198 points, claiming victories over Western Illinois (1,036) and Northeastern Illinois (166).

The Saluki’s posted victories in 11 of 12 events. The Salukis took the top eight places in the 500-meter freestyle, while finishing with the top five in the 50-meter freestyle. Victories included junior Liam Weseloh in the 500-meter freestyle (4:36.56), freshman Corne Prozesky in the 200-meter individual medley (1:57.62) and 100-meter breaststroke (59.05), and senior Jeff Clark in the 50-meter freestyle (21.40).

In the diving competition, senior Alex Wright (499.40) beat out sophomore teammate Randy McPherson (405.30) for title in the 3-meter.

Other victories included senior Will Enoch in the 400-meter individual medley (4:10.33), senior Steve Munz in 100-meter butterfly (52.25) and 100-meter backstroke (53.09), and sophomore Ryan Gallagher in the 200-meter freestyle (1:45.07).

Walker sees Saturday’s performance as an indication of his team’s gradual improvement.

We are well on our way to having a great end-of-the-year meet, said Walker.

The SIUC women’s swimming and diving team also entered the Illini Classic with a confident attitude.

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I wanted the swimmers not to worry about how they should finish, SIUC women’s coach Mark Kluemper said. I wanted them to focus on swimming hard and well every race. Most of them did a good job on that.

The University of Illinois captured the meet title, with Illinois State and SIUC following close behind. Final team scores and the exact order of Illinois State’s and SIUC’s finish were unavailable at press time because of computer problems.

The women’s leading performances came from the diving boards where senior Karla Gerzema scored 366.00 in the 1-meter springboard for the victory. Freshman Colleen Reardon finished fifth with a score of 323.60.

Other top performances included a second-place finish by Nicole Freda in the 200-meter freestyle (1:56.85), followed by teammates freshman Leanne Conn and junior Kirsty Albertyn for third and fourth, respectively.

Second-place finishes went to freshman Beth Ann Erikson in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:00.21 and senior Melanie Williams in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:07.74.

This was a good test to see how willing they were to not fall on excuses and still find a way to get up and swim fast, Kluemper said. I think they swam really well. I was pretty pleased.

SIUC competes in its final home meet of the season Friday against the University of Evansville at the Recreation Center.