BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Western Kentucky University swimming and diving teams wrapped up their fall schedule with a sweep of Evansville on Saturday afternoon at Bill Powell Natatorium. The Lady Toppers picked up a 164-111 win while the Hilltoppers defeated the Purple Aces 163-94.
"We swam very well," WKU coach Bruce Marchionda said. "We used the meet itself as a test to find our third events for the conference championships and also to work on some different race strategy. I thought it was a really good learning tool for us today and good to be able to come out with a victory as well."
WKU sophomore Alex Van Oost and junior Chelsea Larsen led the way on the women's side, each claiming two event wins. Van Oost claimed the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.80 seconds and placed first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:56.44. Larsen swept the butterfly events, touching in at 59.06 in the 100 fly and 2:08.49 in the 200 fly. The Lady Toppers claimed the top four spots in the 100 fly with Katie McLean (1:00.23) taking second, Carissa Brozino (1:01.09) placing third and Ashley Lewis (1:02.43) in fourth.
"Alex Van Oost is only a sophomore and continues to get better each week and train really hard, so it was fun to see her work pay off," Marchionda said. "Chelsea Larsen being a double winner today was also fun. Those were two pretty good swims for Chelsea, much better than the invite a couple weeks ago and it was a good confidence builder for her."
Hilltopper senior Sean Shannon captured victories in the 50 freestyle (21.81) and 100 freestyle (47.11) while sophomore Adam Dajka placed first in the 100 backstroke (52.26) and 500 freestyle (4:44.11) to lead the men's team. Junior Chris Housden also tallied a pair of wins for the Hilltoppers with a time of 51.41 in the 100 fly and stopping the clock at 1:53.37 in the 200 backstroke event.
"Sean has been a distance swimmer for the first three years," Marchionda said. "So he is now finding the ability to sprint which is a great asset for us, especially when it comes time to put relays together. He has done a nice job in the weight room, getting bigger and stronger and getting a little bit more speed."
Both teams also had strong performance in the 100 breaststroke, 1,000 freestyle and 200 individual medley, sweeping both the men's and women's events. Senior Brittany Doss clocked a 1:06.58 to win the 100 breastroke while sophomore Billy Kunkel claimed first with a time of 57.18. In the 1,000 freestyle, freshman Samantha Holmes (10:32.27) and junior Adam Pendry (9:51.51) picked up the wins for WKU. Senior Claire Alexandre (2:09.93) and sophomore Luke Musser (1:56.94) took the top spots on both sides.
Also picking up wins for the Lady Toppers included Claire Donahue in the 50 free, Hilary Mishler in the 100 free, Laurel Chaney in the 200 back and Georgia Smith in the 500 free.
For the Hilltoppers, David Menchinger claimed the win in the 200 freestyle while Lucas Zelehowsky finished first in the 200 butterfly.
In diving, WKU junior Jim Ritter picked up a win on the 1-meter with a score of 291.35. Fellow junior Vincent Rominger finished third with a 279.95. Sophomore Kylie Ruiz was the top finisher for the Lady Toppers on the 1-meter in third place with a score of 236.15, followed by classmate Caitlin Dean in fourth with a 223.90.
WKU will now begin its winter training schedule before returning to action on Jan. 15 against Indian River State College in Ft. Pierce, Fla.
"We wanted to see where they were after the training cycle we just went through and heading into our winter training, which is the hardest part of training, seeing which things we really need to emphasize and which things we need to go to work on and continue to improve," Marchionda said. "I think for where we are right now, I am very pleased with their performance today."
WKU vs. Evansville Scores
WKU vs. Evansville Results
