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Greg Makos

Daily Egyptian


The SIU swimming and diving season is over, but maybe not for two Saluki swimmers.

Once the preliminary list of NCAA finalists is announced on Thursday, Antonio Santoro and Stephan Ackerman will know if they will be heading to Atlanta, Ga., to compete in the men's NCAA Swimming Championships. The event is being held this year at Georgia Tech University in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

The two sophomores are the only Saluki swimmers who have posted times good enough to compete in the national championship during the regular season. Santoro and Ackerman failed in their attempts to improve their qualifying times this weekend in their final meet of the season, the IU Open in Bloomington, Ind.

Santoro attempted to improve his championship resume in the 200-yard butterfly while Ackerman swam the 100-yard butterfly.

The next few days will be nerve-racking, said head coach Rick Walker.

"It is a waiting game," Walker said. "It would be nicer if we had them in or knew they were under the times it would take to get in, but if nothing else they will have a better taste of being close and have a better chance in the future to make it."

Even if they don't make the championships, the two swimmers will still have two more seasons to improve and make it to the next level.

Santoro, a Brazil native, picked up this season right where he left off in 2004-05. After earning All-MVC First Team honors his freshman season, Santoro's performance in the MVC Championships this season helped him earn the title of conference swimmer of the year. He posted NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly. In doing so he managed to set new SIU and MVC records.

Ackerman, a South Africa native, has also had a successful second season as a Saluki. He posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time en route to winning the MVC title in the 100-yard butterfly. His time of 48.39 seconds set a new MVC Invitational record and was good enough for third all-time at SIU.

They both posted great times, but the question exists: were they fast enough?

"It would be the same as our basketball team in the past few years, being right there on that bubble," Walker said. "Hopefully they get selected, but if not that would absolutely make them want to be there next year."

The men's NCAA Championships are scheduled to begin in Atlanta on Thursday March 23.