Three top swimming and diving teams converged at the Student Recreation Center pool on November 5,1995 to do battle with SIUC in the Saluki quad meet.

Last season,the universities of Kansas, Nebraska, and Michigan were the three schools that did battle with SIUC. The men’s swim team lost to each of those schools, but the women’s squad handed Nebraska an upset, finishing third at the meet.

The SIUC swimming and diving teams travel to Lawrence, Kan. and Lincoln, Neb. this weekend where they will try to avenge their losses from last year.

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Kansas’ women’s team is ranked 20th in the nation, Nebraska’s women are ranked 9th and the Cornhuskers’ men’s team is ranked 27th in the nation. SIUC will enter the contests as underdogs undoubtedly, but that doesn’t concern the coaching staff.

Last year we took Kansas down to the last relay. Had we won the last relay, we would have beaten Kansas, said SIUC men’s swim coach Rick Walker. I believe they are a little deeper than they were last year.

Walker feels that the team is swimming faster this year than last year, but said the team is leaner and also missing a swimmer.

The men’s squad is relatively healthy, but Chris Pelant is out of competition as he is struggling with a bout of mononucleosis.

That puts a big hole in our line-up, said Walker.

Walker said that Nebraska is as strong as they were last year and his squad is aiming for strong individual performances, as opposed to a team performance.

That is not to say we’re going to roll over and play dead, he said.

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If we can accomplish that, (having good individual performances) I think we will have an overall better performance than if we focused on the team and get lost in the fact that we’re trying our best and getting beat, Walker said. It would be like our football team walking in to play Tennessee and Auburn.

The swimmers and divers are well aware of the situation this weekend, and after seeing the scores from last weekend, Walker said the teams are excited going into this meet.

Our athletes are very educated in this sport. I wouldn’t have to tell them where we stand they know, Walker said. It is to their credit to know their team that well and to know the opponents that well.

There are different ways to perform you can perform as one unit. The other way to support team unity is by doing your best at individual challenges to accomplish the team goal, said Walker.

Women’s head coach Mark Kluemper said that the coaching staff is trying to put together the best line-up they can in each event to compete against the two schools.

Kluemper said also that it is a great opportunity to compete against teams such as Kansas and Nebraska.

We really don’t know a lot about them because neither has swam in a meet this season. So we’re just trying to put the best swimmers that we’ve got into their best events, said Kluemper. This weekend we will go with our strongest line-up.