BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Western Kentucky University swimming and diving teams return to the pool for its final competition of the fall when they take on regional opponent University of Evansville at 1 p.m. at Bill Powell Natatorium.
"Hopefully we will continue the momentum that we have started back at Georgia Tech and finish out the semester," WKU coach Bruce Marchionda said. "What we are looking for this weekend is for us to really develop that third event for our swimmers that is going to be so important at the conference meet. So that is what we are going to focus on this meet and then just us it as a springboard for the very difficult winter training that we will hit after that."
Last time out, WKU swept the Hilltopper Invitational Nov. 18-20 at the Bill Powell Natatorium. Both the men's and women's teams finished atop the team standings after the final day of competition. The Lady Toppers finished first on the women's side with a total of 1,161 points while the men placed first with 1,347 points.
Over the three day meet, the WKU swimming and diving teams combined to break 16 pool records in 11 different events, including the 50 free, 400 IM, 100 fly, 100 breast, 100 back, 200 fly, 200 back and four different relays.
Hilltopper diver Vincent Rominger earned Sun Belt Conference Diver of the Week honors following his performance at the meet. Rominger claimed first-place on the 3-meter event with a finals score of 312.80, a lifetime best mark for the junior. In the 1-meter competition, The Battle Creek, Mich., native placed third with a score of 268.00. The event win on the 3-meter was the first of the season by a WKU diver.
Evansville's men's and women's teams finished in third and fourth place, respectively, at the Hilltopper Invitational. The women have a 2-2 dual meet record with wins over Eastern Illinois and Centre College and the men are 1-3 in dual meets with their lone victory over Centre College.
Last season against Evansville, the Hilltopper and Lady Toppers swept the dual meet. The men edged the Purple Aces 120-1-7 while the women earned a 121-113 victory behind strong performances from Claire Donahue and Kate Sweeney along with Nick Slattery and Billy Kunkel.
WKU leads the all-time series between the two teams on both the men's and women's sides. The Hilltoppers are 42-0 against Evansville and the Lady Toppers are 12-1 all-time against the Purple Aces.
"It's just one more step in the process to be good in February, so we want to see specific things out of it," Marchionda said. "We want to see improvement on some of the details of the races and again developing that third event, which I think is going to pay dividends come conference time. It's just one more step in the evolution or the process to try and get better in February."
For complete results and a recap of Saturday's meet, please visit WKUSports.com.
