(O'FALLON, Ill., Oct. 18) – The McKendree University men's and women's swimming and diving teams hosted Division-I University of Evansville on Friday afternoon for the second home meet of the season. The men came out on top 188-98 and the women were narrowly defeated 155.5-142.5.
 
The Bearcats will head to Truman State University for a Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) meet on Saturday afternoon.
 
I am really proud of our effort tonight against a tough Division-I opponent. I was really pleased with how well the women battled the entire meet and took it down to the last relay. Grace was terrific tonight, fighting tough at the end of each breaststroke race to take both wins," said head coach Jimmy Tierney. "Milica continues to impress with a sweep of victories in her races. She has fought back against some challenging injuries. As a whole the women competed much better than against SIU two weeks ago."
 
To open the meet, both teams captured victories in the 400 medley relay. The team of senior Sydney Rey (Columbia, IL/Columbia High School), freshman Grace Credit (La Grange Highlands, IL/Lyons Township High School), juniors Victoria Sananikone (Cedar Park, TX/Cedar Park High School), and Meredith Geyer (Germantown, TN/Germantown High School) finished the race in 4:00.10. The men's team of freshman Davante Carey (Nassau, Bahamas/Queens College), seniors Matthew Meals (McKinney, TX/McKinney Boyd High School), Matija Pucarevic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sixth Belgrade Grammar School), and junior Alexander Skinner (Namibia, Africa/Windhoek Afrikaans Private School) turned in a time of 3:23.64.
 
Junior Throstur Bjarnason (Reykjanesbær, Iceland/Fjölbrautaskóli Suðurnesja) took the top spot in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:49.53.
 
Both sides won the 200 freestyle with victories from Geyer and Pucarevic. Geyer finished with a 1:56.63 and Pucarevic posted a 1:41.43.
 
S. Rey captured her second win of the day in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.64.
 
Credit secured her second event win in the 100 breaststroke, posting a time of 1:07.98.
 
In the 200 butterfly, sophomore Noah Javens (West Lafayette, IN/William Henry Harrison High School) took first place with a 1:53.43.
 
Senior Milica Sostarec (Subotica, Serbia/Medical High School) and Skinner captured victories in the 50 freestyle. Sostarec touched the wall in 24.29 and Skinner finished with a 20.36.
 
The Sostarec and Skinner duo both secured victories in the 100 freestyle. Sostarec won with a 54.18 and Skinner had a time of 45.27.
 
Geyer and freshman Fabio Dalu (Cagliari, Italy/Liceo L.B. Alberti Cagliari) posted wins in the 200 backstroke with times of 2:05.19 and 1:52.36, respectively.
 
In the 200 breaststroke, Credit and Meals placed first with times of 2:27.37 and 2:09.51.
 
"I am super proud of myself and the rest of the team! I thought we did really well as a whole and I was really happy with my individual swims, they were both really great races," said Credit. "It's the best feeling seeing my teammates cheer for me behind my lane! Today was overall really great, and I'm super pumped for the rest of the season."
 
Bjarnason posted his second victory of the day in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:40.95.
 
Junior Victoria Sananikone (Cedar Park, TX/Cedar Park High School) and Pucarevic both won the 100 butterfly, turning in times of 59.73 and 49.34.
 
Sophomore Taras Zherebetskyy (Alghero, Sardegna, Italy/I.T.S Alghero) won his first event in the 200 IM, touching the wall in 1:56.02.
 
To close out the meet, both teams won the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Sostarec, S. Rey, H. Rey, and Geyer posted a time of 1:38.25. For the men, the team of Pucarevic, sophomore Gregg Lichinsky (West Des Moines, IA/West Des Moines Valley High School), freshman Caleb Law (Anchorage, AK/Robert Service High School), and Skinner finished with a 1:22.19.
 
In the one-meter diving event, junior Caitlyn Canadi (South Lyon, MI/South Lyon High School) scored 198.37 points. Sophomores Ethan Larson (Anchorage, AK/Paideia High School) and Xavier Flores (Fresno, CA/Clovis West High School) scored 261.98 and 225.90 points.
 
For three-meter diving, Canadi posted 181.57 points. Larson scored 285.38 points and Flores finished with 240.45 points.
 
"The men took care of business from the opening relay. Matija was excellent tonight with his double wins in the 200 free and 200 fly, which were both top 10 national times," said Tierney. "Fabio's 200 back win was a bonus for us and now gives us another good option for us to consider in future meets. I was also proud of Taras getting his first collegiate win in 200 IM. He raced well the entire day for us."
 
McKendree's next home meet will be next Friday, October 25 against GLVC opponents Drury and Indianapolis, both ranked inside the top 10.