Men’s and women’s swimmers struggle at U of I

The men’s swimming and diving team captured one victory, while the women’s team was shut out in three meets over the weekend at the University of Illinois’ Dual Meet Extravaganza in Champaign.

The men’s team defeated Bowling Green State University 83-48 Saturday morning with seven individual winners.

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But the men’s team was not as fortunate in its other two meets, as it fell to the University of Iowa Friday night 116-69 and the University of Cincinnati 103-62 Saturday evening to move its record to 2-4 in dual meets.

In the Bowling Green meet, Liam Weseloh took first place in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 4 minutes and 39.89 seconds.

Other winners against Bowling Green were Jason Velez, who won the 100-meter individual medley (53.80), while Troy Sayers won the 200-meter backstroke (1:56.36), and Ben Culver captured the 200-meter butterfly (1:57.61). Corne Prozesky placed first in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:06.65) for the Salukis.

Diver Alex Wright finished first in the 3-meter competition with a score of 292.

The women’s team lost a heartbreaker to Bowling Green 69-62 Saturday morning led by Kiki Sidiropoulou’s first-place finish in the 500-meter freestyle (5:09.85) and Daniela Muniz’s victory in the 200-meter butterfly (2:11.88).

Women’s diver Karla Gerzema was victorious in the 1-meter diving with a score of 224.55.

Women’s coach Mark Kluemper said the close defeat was hard to overcome.

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It was the meet of the weekend we actually swam the best, Kluemper said. I was hoping for the team’s sake we could pull it out.

In its other meets, the women fell to the University of Illinois 101-77 Friday evening and Cincinnati Saturday evening 102-47 to move its record to 1-5 in dual meets.

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will next face action in the Dec. 4-6 Missouri Valley Conference Championships at the Recreation Center.

Cross country teams falter in Iowa

The men’s cross country team closed out its fall season with a 16th-place finish out of 22 teams, while the women’s squad finished 17th out of 24 teams at Saturday’s Midwest Regional Championships in Ames, Iowa.

Jeremy Parks led the way for the men with a 70th-place finish and a time of 35 minutes and 3 seconds for the Salukis.

Following Jeremy Parks was Andy Bosak in 77th place (35:18), Matt McClelland in 80th (35:22), Ben Basalay in 84th (35:30) and Joseph Parks in 91st (35:46).

Oklahoma State University won the meet with 86 points, followed by the University of Minnesota with 94 points and the University of Nebraska with 101 points. The Salukis finished with 402 points.

The women’s team was led by Jenny Monaco’s 65th-place finish (20:06) out of a field of 161 runners.

Following Monaco was Raina Larsen in 85th place (20:21), Gayla Harrington in 94th (20:29), Becky Cox in 105th (20:44) and Erin Leahy in 111th (20:48).

The University of Missouri won the meet with a score of 76, followed by the University of Nebraska with 81 points and the University of Minnesota 107 points. The Salukis finished with 460 points in the meet.

Volleyball Salukis tournament hopes squashed

The SIUC volleyball team lost its final two regular-season matches this weekend, ending the team’s hopes of making the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in Normal.

The Salukis dropped road contests to Bradley University 15-7, 12-15, 16-14, 15-9, Friday and the University of Northern Iowa 15-11, 16-14, 14-16, 13-15, 15-11, Saturday.

Outside hitter Marlo Moreland led the Salukis in both matches. The junior from Lancaster, Texas, recorded 12 kills against the Braves and 23 kills in the loss to the Panthers.

SIUC ended the season at 13-15 overall and 8-10 in the MVC. The Salukis tied with Indiana State University for sixth place in the conference. The Sycamores received the bid into the tournament because of a higher rank in the MVC power ratings.