Dec. 1, 2001

Women's Final Results
Men's Final Results

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University swimming and diving fell to Eastern Illinois this afternoon at the Simon Recreation Center. The EIU men topped the Billikens 158-94, while the women battled to a 142-111 victory.

The women's dual was tight halfway through the meet as the teams were tied 68-68 after seven events. The Billikens used a 1-2-3 finish in one-meter diving to take a 61-56 lead, but the Panthers came back with 12 points in the 100 butterfly to get to the tie. The Billikens found themselves with a 21-point deficit after the 500 free, but the divers again took the stop three spots to pull within eight points at 110-102. EIU's Michelle Wroblewski out-touched SLU's Courtney Key in the 100 breast to give the Panthers a 17-point lead. The Billikens needed to finish first and second in the 200 free relay to earn 18 points in the final event and claim the victory. The Panthers were up to the challenge, however, and ended the Bills' comeback hopes as they claimed first and second places for themselves.

While Abbey Robins, Megan Capellupo and Kristen Lowe each claimed a first-place finish for the Billikens, it was the dominance of the divers that kept the team in the meet. The strongest competition came among teammates as junior Jenny Hurst edged out sophomore Tessa Truesdell on her sixth and final dive to claim first in the one-meter with a 222.15. Truesdell showed no ill-effects of the setback when the three-meter competition rolled around, steadily putting together six solid dives en route to a score of 238.68 and her first top finish of the season.

The men's meet lacked the uncertainty of the women's down the stretch as the Panthers piled up double-digit points in every swimming event. Saint Louis freshman diver Bobby Wolf provided much of the excitement for the Bills as he pulled off a series of difficult dives on the three-meter board en route to a first-place score of 271.75. His final score of 229.40 on the one-meter appeared routine after his three-meter display, but was still good enough for first place. Saint Louis closed the meet with a narrow victory by the 200 free relay team of Neil Senkowski, Andrew Long, Michael Ferguson and Chris Clement.