The SIUC swimming and diving teams will welcome the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame Saturday afternoon at the Recreation Center Pool at 12 noon.

The Salukis are not unfamiliar with Notre Dame, having faced them in a meet Jan. 19-20. The men’s team overturned the Irish in their meeting by a score of 228.5-133.5, but the women did not fare so well, losing 201-149.

Men’s coach Rick Walker said the meet will be a gauging point to see where the swimmers are in preparation for the National Independent Championships in Little Rock, Ark. on the 21-24 of February.

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This is the gauging mark for three weeks from now, Walker said. While our primary goal is to win, we also cannot forget that in a close second, is finding out where we are going into our final rounds.

I think they (Notre Dame) are going to come in here a little sharper than they were in Indianapolis, Ind., but then I think we can be as sharp, Walker said. I think it is going to be a very good competitive meet.

According to Walker, facing Notre Dame will be a true test to find out where his swimmers are at before the Championship phase of the season begins.

This is it, either race well, or we’re going to have to work on it and our next race will be at the Championship meet (National Independent Championships). We either do it now, or it doesn’t get done, Walker said.

Women’s coach Mark Kluemper expressed that his squad will be viewing the meet this weekend from an emotional standpoint.

This is our last meet as a dual meet team, and it’s the final meet for the seniors, Kluemper said. It’s a pretty special senior class, so I think the team is going to get fired up, and they’re going to be ready to race. I want it to be a good experience, especially for the seniors because they’ve put in four years of hard work, and they deserve a good send-off.

I feel confident that we will swim well because we’re in the quality phase of the season, Kluemper said. We’re concentrating on swimming fast in practice at this time, and usually during this time (of the season) dual meets are pretty good.

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Although Kluemper’s team lost to the Irish on Jan 20th, he feels the outcome may be different the second time around.

I’m not sure if they (Notre Dame) went full force in that meet or not, Kluemper said. We didn’t put our best line-up against Notre Dame, it was a strong one, but we’ll put together a little stronger line-up against Notre Dame this time around, and I think if we swim well, we’ve got a chance to beat them, Kluemper said.

If we swim well and don’t beat them, I will be just as happy, Kluemper said. The important thing is, this time we’re swimming fast and looking good heading into the National Independents meet.