Accounting student named MVC Swimmer of the Week

Accounting senior Julie Ju

The SIU swimming and diving team faced off against some of the best teams in the country at the Purdue Invitational, and neither fell to the bottom of the pack.

The men's team finished sixth out of seven teams while the women finished in fifth place at the three-day meet from Nov. 16-18. Missouri came in first for the women, while host-school Purdue won the men's invite.

Senior leaders Antonio Santoro and Julie Ju (senior majoring in accounting) both had strong meets as they accounted for the only two first-place finishes for SIU during the invite. Santoro won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:26.19, while Ju finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.98

Ju's strong performance earned her Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer of the Week honors. In addition to her first-place finish, she also took 12th in the 500-freestyle with a time of 5:01.04, which is the best time in that event in the MVC this season.

Junior Dennis Hedo and sophomore Therese Mattsson also finished well in their events. Hedo had a fifth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle and a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle while helping his relay team achieve a fourth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle.

Mattsson had a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle and a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle while also helping her relay team to a fourth place finish in the 200-yard medley.

After the tough task of facing five top-25 teams, the Salukis will return to compete against St. Louis University on Dec. 8 in the Student Recreation Center.

Jeff Engelhardt can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 238 or jengel@siu.edu.