Missouri State swimming split a pair of dual meets with Southern Illinois. The men won 121-110 with the women falling 125-116.
Missouri State Press Release:
Both the Missouri State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams held leads heading into the final event of their dual against the Salukis on Saturday, Oct. 10, but only the Bears’ men’s team came away with a win as they defeated SIU 121-110 and the MSU women’s team fell to the Salukis, 125-116, at Hammons Student Center.
MSU’s men’s and women’s teams gained control of the dual in the second to last event, the 200 breaststroke.
The Missouri State women’s squad took a four-point lead as Lauren Pavel won the event in a time of 2 minutes, 43.42 seconds. Olivia Gean finished runner-up with a 2:27.00 finish, while Kaylee Larson (2:27.04) and Andi Burroughs (2:28.62) got third and fifth, respectively.
The men’s squad put the dual out of reach in the 200 breast with Artur Osvath touching the wall first (4:37.80), Christopher Heye coming in second (2:06.71) and Isaac Springer placing fourth (2:09.99).
SIU eventually took the top two spots in the final event – the 400 freestyle relay – to earn the win on the women’s side, while the Bears’ men’s top 400 free relay squad of Michael Mollak, Brenden Bolman, Jack Snow and Kacper Cwiek finished runner-up by just .40 seconds.
“We asked them to do a lot of swimming this weekend in a short amount of time,” Bears head coach Dave Collins said. “I think we left the pool at 7 last night and we were in the water warming up at 7 (a.m.). A 12-hour turnaround is tough, but that’s the way it goes when you get to conference championships and we’ve got to duplicate that atmosphere.
“This group’s competitive and the women’s team was disappointed. You always want to win and you always want to win at home, but again we’ve got a lot we can work on and we’re moving in a good direction.”
MSU’s Uvis Kalnins was one of the top performers on the men’s side, placing first in both the 200 backstroke (1:49.86) and the 50 free (20.63). He also led the top-finishing 400 medley relay group which included Isaac Springer, Osvath and Will Brand.
“It’s good that we won but we still have so many things to work on,” Kalnins said. “Our turns aren’t there yet, there’s some issues with pacing and starts and just the little things. We still have a couple days to work on that and put it all together for an even faster meet against Drury.”
Osvath served as the other MSU men’s swimmer to earn multiple victories as he also placed first in the 200 IM (1:53.24). Minki Kang earned a victory in the 1000 free (9:33.02) and ended up runner-up in the 500 free (4:37.80).
Kacper Cwiek earned two runner-up finishes for the Bears while Brand, Bryce Blattner and Christopher Heye each had second-place times during the meet. Eight Bears – Mollak, Bolman, Snow, Ethan Bresette, Brandon Weissman, Kevin Douglas, Nicholas Theunissen and Canaan Campbell – had at least one top-five showing at the dual.
Missouri State women’s swimmers Pavel, Josie Pearson and Sydney Zupan earned victories for the Bears Saturday, with Pearson winning both the 200 IM (2:06.68) and 200 butterfly (2:08.46). Zupan took top honors in the 200 backstroke behind a time of 2:04.48, while Pavel placed second in her other individual race, the 200 IM.
“I’m definitely disappointed, I don’t like to lose that’s for sure,” Lauren Pavel said. “I’m really competitive personally, but as a team overall we did fantastic compared to last year (versus Southern Illinois). Last year at this meet our attitudes were a little different. This year we were all upbeat and cheering each other on and it was really great to see that. It was a fun meet, even though the outcome wasn’t what we wanted.”
Dora Kiss competed in three events for the Bears and placed runner-up in two of them. She led a host of MSU swimmers that finished with runner-up performances which included Ibby Simcox, Hope Ernhart, Loretta Stelnicki and Nina Privitera.
Anna Bump, Briana Horozewski and Rebecca Amparano each had third-place times while Emma Wall, Brianna McCullough and Quincy Howell also finished with top-five showings.
“This is good for us,” Collins said. “Southern Illinois is talented and there was a lot of close races. I was actually very pleased with how we handled ourselves. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches of just kind of building our training, but I thought the kids raced as best they could. The effort level was very high.”
The Missouri State swimming and diving team returns to Hammons Student Center Friday, Oct. 16, for its annual ‘Duel in the Pool’ series versus crosstown rival Drury. The first meet of the two-dual series is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
.jpg "2015 Missouri State vs Southern Illinois Dual Meet - logo"){kind=logo}