EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sunday marks the season opener for the Purple Aces swimming and diving teams as they travel to Fishers, Ind. for the Butler Quad Meet.
 
Set for a 12 p.m. ET start at Fishers High School, the event will be a double dual meet.  Each team will compete individually against all of the others teams with each meet being scored separately.
 
Six women's teams will be participating including: Butler, Western Illinois, Xavier, Saint Louis, Valparaiso and Evansville.  On the men's side, the teams swimming are Xavier, Saint Louis, Western Illinois, Valpo and UE.
 
Warm-ups begin at 10:30 a.m. with the meet kicking off at noon.  It is a 13-event format.

"Our goal for this weekend's meet is to compete to the best our ability that day," head coach Rickey Perkins said.  "We will use this meet to measure our training over the first four weeks of the season.  We will go into the meet with the mindset that we may or may not win but we will compete like the champions we are."
 
A pair of upperclassmen lead the way for the UE men as senior Ashton Bishop and junior Troy Burger are back.  Bishop is coming off of his best season to date as he was named to the 2014 All-MAC Honorable Mention Team.  Bishop led the team in the 50 freestyle with a 20:83 while he also ranked in the top 45 in the Mid-American Conference. He will swim in the 50 and 100 freestyle and 200 medley relay.
 
Burger swam the top time for UE in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 56:32.  His 400 individual medley time of 4:34.00 put him in the top 50 in the MAC.  His events on Sunday will be the 400 IM, 200 breaststroke and 200 medley relay.
 
Danielle Freeman burst onto the scene last year for UE as a freshman.  She garnered a spot on the All-MVC Swimming and Diving Team while ranking third in the Valley in 50 freestyle with a time of 23:33.  She also ranked in the top 10 in the MVC in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56:98.  Freeman was a 3-time MVC Swimmer of the Week.  The 50 and 100 freestyle along with the 200 medley relay will be her events.
 
Senior Michelle Tipton has consistently been one of the top swimmers in the MVC.  A 2014 All-Conference Swimmer, Tipton was named the MVC Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 26, 2013.  She ranked third in the MVC in 200 freestyle with a 1:50.61 and was 10^th in the league in the 1000 freestyle with a 10:44.53.  She will be swimming in the 200 and 500 freestyle as well as the 400 free relay.