(O'FALLON, Ill., Jan. 18) – The McKendree swimming and diving program came out ready to go in their final home meet, winning 14 events on Friday afternoon.
 
Friday Scores:
Men:
McKendree: 101         William Jewell: 18
McKendree: 98           UMSL: 21

Women:
McKendree: 87           William Jewell: 23
McKendree: 93           UMSL: 15
 
The women captured victory early in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the team of juniors Milica Sostarec (Subotica, Serbia/Medical High School), Sydney Rey (Columbia, IL/Columbia High School), freshman Haley Rey (Columbia, IL/Columbia High School), and sophomore Meredith Geyer (Germantown, TN/Germantown High School) finished the race in 1:37.47.
 
Sophomore Victoria Sananikone (Cedar Park, TX/Cedar Park High School) took top honors in the 200-yard IM and butterfly with times of 2:09.25 and 2:06.70. In the 100-yard freestyle, freshman Haley Rey (Columbia, IL/Columbia High School) touched the wall in 52.81 to capture her first victory of the day. Freshman Hallie Dixon (Jeffersonville, IN/Jeffersonville High School) was the winner of the 200-yard breast, turning in a time of 2:28.92. Geyer added victories in the 200-yard backstroke and 500-yard freestyle, with times of 2:03.41 and 5:09.57.
 
"I felt really great in the water tonight. I'm not sure if it was the energy of the team or the comfort of home, but there was definitely some electricity in the air," said Geyer.
 
Just like the women, the men turned in victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay as the team of juniors Matija Pucarevic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sixth Belgrade Grammar School), Luca Simonetti (Sassari, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Gulielmo Marconi Sassari), freshman Gregg Lichinsky (West Des Moines, IA/West Des Moines Valley High School), and sophomore Alexander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School) turned in a time of 1:22.32.
 
Senior Daniel Buijs (Amersfoot, Netherlands) won two events, the 200-yard IM and backstroke with times of 1:54.54 and 1:52.27. Junior Matthew Meals (McKinney, TX/McKinney Boyd High School) came out victorious in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:08.12. In the 200-yard butterfly, freshman Noah Javens (West Lafayette, IN/William Henry Harrison High School) took the top spot with a time of 1:52.68. Sophomore Throstur Bjarnason (Reykjanesbær, Iceland/Fjölbrautaskóli Suðurnesja) won the 500-yard freestyle, turning in a time of 4:41.54. Skinner turned in another victory in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44.67.
 
"I am extremely pleased about our meet today. Everyone was ready to race and swam incredible times even though we have had a hard three weeks in and out of the pool. I am pleased with my own times. It was my second time under 20 seconds in 50-yard freestyle in a relay. Overall it was a great day to be a Bearcat," said Skinner.
 
"Skinner made another NCAA B cut in 100-yard freestyle for the second week in a row which is a rare happening in our sport," said Tierney.
 
The swimming and diving program will continue the meet on Saturday with diving beginning at 9:30a.m. and swimming starting at noon.
 
"We wanted to get off to a really fired up start on opening relays. They did that extremely well and did not look back. The men's 200-yard freestyle relay was surely the fastest ever swim in our pool," said McKendree head coach Jimmy Tierney. "Both sophomore Alexander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School) and freshman Gregg Lichinsky (West Des Moines, IA/West Des Moines Valley High School) were really quick for no related swims." 
 
For the first time in program history, two seniors will be celebrated as Macartney Motsinger (Harrisburg, IL/Harrisburg High School) and Daniel Buijs (Amersfoot, Netherlands) will be recognized in their final home meet as Bearcats.