Men’s swimming recap 13

With 16 all-conference finishers and a commanding victory, SIUC men’s swimming coach Rick Walker could not have been more pleased with his team’s performance in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships over the weekend in Carbondale.

The men’s swimming and diving team blew away the competition with a score of 1,012, while its closest opponent, Southwest Missouri State University, scored just 790 points in three days of competition at the Recreation Center.

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Walker was surprised by his team’s overwhelming victory.

There were a lot of people, including myself, who thought we wouldn’t win by this much, Walker said. Apparently, the team and swimmers who swam for points didn’t think so.

Walker said his team’s endurance throughout the weekend enhanced its claim to victory.

It never amazes me how they can come in from the morning and then repeat a strong performance in the evening, Walker said.

Swimmer Jeff Clark captured his fourth consecutive 50-meter freestyle victory with a time of 20.96 seconds, while Liam Weseloh won his third straight 500-meter freestyle championship (4:34.54) for the Salukis.

Other Saluki victories 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).

Weseloh said the team will use the victory as a stepping stone for the future.

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Everyone stepped up and swam well, Weseloh said. It will be a great experience for the younger swimmers to build on.

MVC Diver of the Year Alex Wright captured 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.

Wright said his 3-meter diving title and new MVC record was established by rigorous training and strong motivation.

I was motivated this year because I was injured last year, and I wanted to redeem myself, Wright said.

Men’s diving coach Dave Ardrey said Wright’s hard work has paid off in a big way.

It just was a great job in training, Ardrey said. He never deviated from the plan. He stuck with it and finished really strong.

The men’s team beat out four schools to capture its fourth consecutive title. Following SIUC and Southwest Missouri State were the University of Evansville with 670 points, the University of Northern Iowa with 431 points and Bradley University with 119 points.

Walker said the Salukis put themselves in a solid position from the start.

We put ourselves in a situation where we didn’t have to panic, Walker said. We just continued to swim well and had a tremendous finish.

The Salukis’ next meet will be Jan. 17 against the University of Kansas in Carbondale.