October was a good month for SLU’s swimming and diving team. In the past four meets, the men’s team topped all but one of its eight opponents, while the women, who had five meets, were victorious in eight out of ten match-ups. In addition, both teams have been honored by a combined total of five individual Atlantic 10 weekly accolades this month: four for the men and one for the women.
The Billikens headed to Macomb, Ill. on Friday, Oct. 10, to take on Western Illinois University. Both teams won decisively, 202-94 for the men and 240-56 for the women, breaking seven WIU pool records in the process. Two of these were beaten by the women: the 200-yard medley relay team broke a 1988 record, with a time of 1:49.28, and freshman Riley Kirby beat a 1995 time in the 100-yard backstroke, with 58.80.
The men topped the charts in the 200-yard freestyle and medley relays, at 1:24.88 and 1:34.53, respectively. Junior Brendan Hulseman’s time of 45.01 in the 100-yard freestyle shattered the previous record by nearly two seconds. The remaining two records went to freshman Ryan McCoy in the 200-yard (1:41.90) and 500-yard freestyle (4:38.32).
Hulseman and McCoy had already earned names for themselves, having been named A-10 Performer and Rookie of the Week, respectively, just prior to the WIU meet. McCoy was nominated again for a second consecutive week following the meet and was joined by senior Zack Billingsley, whose performance in both of the record-breaking relays in Macomb earned him an A-10 nod as Performer of the Week.
McCoy leads the team in the 1000 and 500-yard events, Billingsley in the 50-yard sprint, and Hulseman in the 200 and 100-yard events.
The A-10 also acknowledged freshman Mina Glenesk as the women’s Rookie of the Week. Glenesk leads SLU in the 200-yard freestyle and is ranked second in the 500-yard freestyle, 1000-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly.
SLU racked up a total of five more wins in a pair of meets at home the following weekend, Oct. 17th-18th. Friday, the Billikens hosted the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Maryville University for a women’s team meet, beating both soundly. Then on Saturday, Lincoln College’s men’s and women’s teams joined UALR at the Simon Rec Center for a second meet. The women repeated their success, defeating both teams. The men’s team topped the podium in every single event, earning SLU’s fifth win of the weekend over Lincoln.
The men’s team traveled to Indiana and outperformed Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Western Illinois in the Oct. 31st meet; the women’s team beat Western Illinois, but fell short against IUPUI. In St. Peter’s, Mo., the following day, both teams placed second out of five schools for the men, and fourth for the women in the Lindenwood Invitational. Both teams fell short against host Lindenwood University.
The Billikens will resume their season Nov. 21-23, at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill.
