Toppers beat Evansville, St. Louis

After dropping two straight meets, Western’s men’s swimming and diving team rebounded after getting two wins at Evansville.

The Toppers pulled in a 67-45 win over St. Louis and squeaked by an Evansville team 62-50 that it had slaughtered in a 45-point massacre earlier this season.

After losing to Wright State and conference rival Southern Illinois, the Tops were hoping to go into Evansville and get a confidence-boosting blowout.

But Evansville had its own confidence.

The slim, 12-point victory may have had a lot to do with the absence of freshman sensation Nic Hurt. Hurt, still academically ineligible due to an incomplete from last semester, was a key loss for the Toppers.

Western’s depth was put on life support due to the small size of Evansville’s pool. The number of swimmers each team could enter was limited, which took Western’s bread and butter out of the contest.

Western controlled the freestyle events with first place performances from sophomore Karl Swanson, freshman Evan Mulliken and freshman David Morse.

The freestyle allowed Western to fill the gaping holes in its depth.

-Wes Watt