Saint Louis University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams defeated Bradley in their season home opener last Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Simon Recreation Center. Both the men’s and women’s teams dominated the pool with a gamut of first place finishes.
The men triumphed in every event except for the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, winning the meet 141-89.
The women delivered a matching performance with wins in every individual race except the 100 free and 100 breaststroke, an effort which resulted in a 132- 128 win.
The men opened their season with a powerful performance of a 1:41.45 in the 200 medley relay, leaving the three Bradley teams trailing.
Rich Sheridan delivered a win in the 1000 free with a 10:37.72. Joe Valentino finished second in the 200 free with a 1:55.90 to Bradley’s Zak Knott’s 1:54.80.
SLU answered Bradley’s win in the 200 free by sweeping the 50 free, 200 individual medley and the 100 fly.
Senior Jason Difani continued his dual meet streak in both the 50 free and the 100 fly with a 21.70 and a 54.05, respectively.
The team finished up the meet with their second and final loss to Bradley in the 100 back. Freshman Rich Sheridan brought home a win in the 500 free with a 5:07.58, as did fellow freshman Mark Wonzy in the 100 breast with a 1:04.16. Wonzy and Sheridan were among the four freshman who took five of the individual wins at Saturday’s meet.
The men concluded their season opener by leaving Bradley behind one last time in the 400 free relay. SLU turned in a time of 3:22.22 while the Bradley A team answered back with a weak 3:33.33.
The women thrived as well as their teammates on Saturday.
Contrary to the men, the women were carried by veteran Billikens Abbey Robins, Bernie Gartland, Christine Smith and Jenny Hurst. However, freshman Meaghan Hildebrand made her presence known with first place finishes in both the 50 free and 100 butterfly.
Bradley took the first event of the meet in the 200 medley relay, but Abbey Robbins answered back immediately by finishing far ahead of the Bradley contenders in the 1000 free with a 10:57.38.
Senior Christine Smith hit the water in the 200 free with a first place performance of 2:07.80.
Meaghan Hildebrand and Bernie Gartland continued the women’s winning streak in the 50 free, 200 IM, 100 fly and 100 back.
Gartland turned in times of 2:24.10 for the 200 IM and 1:03.62 in the 100 back that left Bradley struggling to follow suit.
Jenny Hurst took first in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events.
Abbey Robins brought in SLU’s final first place finish in the 500 free with 5:38.32.
The women’s meet concluded with a second-place finish in the 400-free relay to Bradley’s A team. Bradley defeated SLU with a time of 3:58.18. SLU turned in a time of 3:58.96.
