KENOSHA, Wis – The Red Men played host to Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois Tech on Saturday, November 14th in their home opener with victories over Illinois Wesleyan University and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
 
"This meet was especially exciting because we had guys swim a lot better overall then what we have so far this year. A big part of that has been the fact that we've been traveling a lot more this fall than we have before. It was really nice to finally be home," said Head Coach Seth Weidmann.
 
The Red Men opened the meet with the 200 Yard Medley Relay, where the quartet of Sam Gabriel, Chris Riordan, Lucas Linder and Cameron Small finished first with a time of 1:37.39. Mitch Scarski, Paul Devereux, James Weslaski and James Hasbrouck came in a close second with a time of 1:37.55.
 
Aric Lang finished second to Illinois Wesleyan's Ryan O'Toole in the 1000 Yard Freestyle with a time of 10:35.50.
 
Chris Russo, Blake Schaeffer, Nathan Morris, Nick Sall and Nathan Rodriguez conquered the 200 Yard Freestyle with times of 1:45.86, 1:48.82, 1:49.3, 1:49.81 and 1:50.56 respectively.
 
Gabriel and Scarski garnered the top two spots in the 100 Yard Backstroke with times of 53.21 and 53.84 respectively.
 
Linder and Riordan would later earn a one-two finish for the Red Men in the 100 Yard Breaststroke with times of 1:00.50 and 1:00.51 respectively.
 
Tony Connor finished fourth overall in the 200 Yard Butterfly with a time of 2:11.64.
 
Weslaski, Russo and Small all turned in times under 23 seconds in the 50 Yard Freestyle with times of 21.61, 22.24 and 22.3 respectively.
 
Nick Sall finished second to Mickey Milici by 14 tenths of a second in the 200 Yard Backstroke with a time of 2:01.85.
 
Riordan and Schaeffer also earned top times in the 200 Yard Breaststroke with times 2:15.99 and 2:20.09 respectively.
 
Lang finished second to Wesleyan's O'Toole later on in the day in the 500 Yard Freestyle. Lang finished with a time of 5:02.6, 4.29 seconds behind O'Toole's 4:57.91 finish.
 
Linder took the top spot in the 100 Yard Butterfly edging Illinois Tech's Julian Escasa by 28 tenths of a second with an overall time of 52.91.
 
Scarski dominated the 200 Yard Individual Medley for the Red Men taking the top spot with a time of 1:58.80.
 
The Red Men would conclude with the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay taking the top two times. Sall, Weslaski, Russo and Small finished with a time of 3:14.80 as one team. The Red Men quartet featuring Jamey Hill, Brady Bresnahan, Malcom Andrew and Hasbrouck took the second best time of 3:21.57.
 
On the diving boards, Aaron San Juan finished in second after 6 dives with a score of 234.35. Riley Busche finished third with an overall score of 211.52.
 
The meet gives the Red Men more insight to what they need to do to be successful, as Conference meets come into full force in January.
 
"Illinois Wesleyan has some really talented swimmers and even though they may not have the size or the depth that we have, I think some of the races prove that we need to get on our game especially with distance. It's a bit of a wake up call, potentially seeing how fast guys are around the conference especially in distance events. Outside of that it gets us really excited about competing against other CCIW teams and especially leading into the championship season," said Weidmann.
 
The Red Men travel to St. Peter Minnesota to compete in the Grace Goblirsch Invitational at Gustavus Adolphus College on November 21st.