"Before the meet I thought they were pretty tired and broken down from all the training we have been doing and all the dryland emphasis," WKU coach Bruce Marchionda said. "Yet we did what we needed to do get a victory, which was nice. They did a nice job of coming together and our depth was the key factor in being able to get the victory."
Saturday's dual meet featured six different relay events including the 300-yard butterfly relay, 300y backstroke relay, 300y breaststroke relay, 200y and 800y freestyle relay and the 600y medley relay.
"We tried a couple different race strategies and we've been working on some of the details of races and that was the main focus today, to work on those details and they were able to do that," Marchionda said. "I was real pleased with the little steps that some people took forward (today)."
WKU kicked off the meet with a pair of wins in the 300y butterfly relay. The Lady Topper trio of Courtney Marx, Claire Donahue and Chelsea Stephens clocked in at 2 minutes, 58.32 seconds. On the men's side, Kevin Knezevich, Nick Slattery and Lucas Zelehowsky placed first with a time of 2:34.64.
The Lady Toppers and Hilltoppers also picked up first-place finishes in the 300y backstroke and breaststroke relays.
In the 200y freestyle relay, Claire Alexandre, Kristiana Feeser, Laurel Chaney and Donahue took first with a time of 1:39.47 while William Varley, David Menchinger, Sean Shannon and Billy Kunkel touched in at 1:25.79 to take the top spot.
WKU continued to swim well, picking up wins in the men and women's 600y medley relay. Hilltoppers Sam Dalton, Luke Musser and Zelehowsky clocked in at 6:00.76 while the women's trio of Hilary Mishler, Carissa Brozino and Feeser posted a time of 6:45.10.
The meet closed out with the 800y freestyle relay. Marx, Casey DeRidder, Georgia Smith and Alexandre swam a 7:58.90 while Adam Dajka, Menchinger, Shannon and Kunekl went 7:01.11.
WKU returns to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 29 in a dual meet against Southern Illinois at 1 p.m. at the Bill Powell Natatorium. Senior Day festivities will take place prior to the meet.
"SIU is very good- their women are favored to win the Missouri Valley Conference and their men are favored to win the MAC," Marchionda said. "It will be a good test for us right before we start our final preparations for the Sun Belt Conference Championships. We are looking forward to that challenge in two weeks but before then we are going to continue to work very hard and try to get a few more things accomplished."
WKU vs. IRSC Results
