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Men's Swimming and Diving Saturday, February 21, 2015 WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Set Six Program Records on Final Day of Championships

Chris Neaveill was named Swimming Championship co-MVP.

Complete Results

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The final day of the 2015 Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships concluded with Western Illinois setting six new program records on Saturday (Feb. 21). The Leathernecks broke 11 program records throughout the four-day event. At the conclusion of the event., Chris Neaveill was named the Men's Swimming Championship co-MVP.

"We had an awesome meet as a team," said head coach Greg Naumann. "We had a really good meet last year breaking 15 school records, but that was dominated by our men's team. This year, it was a great balance between the men and women's programs. We had some records fall that were definitely not expected. Lizzy and JD both killed their respective events. The record book and all-time top 10 lists have been rewritten again. I take so much more satisfaction in our team's effort this weekend."

The day started off strong for the Purple and Gold as Lizzie Hollopeter and Matt Abercrombie broke the program record in the women and men's 200 yard backstroke respectively. Hollopeter's time of 2:04.81 in the prelims put her in front of a 20-year old record by nearly one second. Abercrombie continued his strong weekend, shattering the 200 back record, touching the wall in 1:50.65.

Andie Villez concluded a strong sophomore season by putting herself in third place all-time in Western history in the 200 yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:23.99. Sarah Rosenhauer finished the same event in 2:27.33, putting herself seventh in the Leatherneck record books.

JD Furr set a new program record in the men's 200 breaststroke. Furr's time of 2:00.71, was three seconds faster than the previous record, set in 1993.

Amy Borgstede touched the wall in 2:13.03 in the 200 butterfly, which puts the freshman in eighth place all-time. Neaveill set his third record of the season, besting his own 200 butterlfy record he set last year. The sophomore finished the 200 fly in 1:48.31, more than one second faster than last year's time (1:49.68).

Matt Abercrombie wrapped up the record-breaking performances, compiling his fourth and fifth program record of the weekend. The junior broke the men's 1650 freestyle record, which he set last year. Abercrombie swam four seconds fast than last year, finishing in 15:45.92. In the process, he also set the men's 1000 freestyle record (9:29.59).

Over the course of the four-day meet, Western Illinois recorded 27 top ten program finishes. Chris Neaveill becomes the first Western Illinois swimmer to be awarded the Swimming Championship MVP and is the first individual Leatherneck men's swimmer to win an award since the 2002-03 season. The sophomore's 100 butterfly time of 48.02 seconds, is an NCAA B-Cut time, which puts him in contention to compete at the NCAA Championships. Neaveill will find out if he has qualified on March 9.

Western Illinois finished sixth on the women's side (192 points), defeating Eastern Illinois and fifth on the men's side (305 points), also defeating Eastern.

NOTE: On Friday (Feb. 20), Abercrombie set the program record in the 400 individual medley. Abercrombie finished the prelims in 3:57.21, breaking his 2014 record.

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Players Mentioned

Matt Abercrombie: Freestyle; Junior; Macomb

JD Furr: Breast/Free; Junior; Crawfordsville

Chris Neaveill: Sprint Free/Fly; Sophomore; Peoria Notre Dame

Lizzie Hollopeter: Back/Free; Junior; Matea Valley

Sarah Rosenhauer: Breast; Junior; Rock Bridge

Andie Villez: Breaststroke; Sophomore; Shawano

Amy Borgstede: Fly; Freshman; Francis Howell

Players Mentioned

Matt Abercrombie
: Junior; Macomb
: Freestyle

JD Furr
: Junior; Crawfordsville
: Breast/Free

Chris Neaveill
: Sophomore; Peoria Notre Dame
: Sprint Free/Fly

Lizzie Hollopeter
: Junior; Matea Valley
: Back/Free

Sarah Rosenhauer
: Junior; Rock Bridge
: Breast

Andie Villez
: Sophomore; Shawano
: Breaststroke

Amy Borgstede
: Freshman; Francis Howell
: Fly