Both of Missouri State’s swimming and diving squads took on Drury for their second and final meeting of the season. With the last dual resulting in a Missouri State sweep with 16 individual victories, the Bears attempted to keep the momentum going Monday, Jan. 20, at Breech Pool. Missouri State came up short, with the women falling by a score of 141-98 and the men falling 165-78.
The night began with the women’s and men’s 200-meter medley relay. The Bears’ women posted all top-five finishes, finishing second (1:46.49), fourth (1:49.64) and fifth place at 1:51.57. The men continued success in the 200 medley, finishing third (1:32.37) and fourth at 1:36.24.
The women’s 1,000m freestyle began with MSU freshman Grace Beahan finishing third (10:15.28), junior Libby Howell in fourth (10:17.87) and freshman Samantha Hietpas rounding out the list at sixth with a time of 10:36.60. The men’s 1,000m gave the Bears their first first place finish of the night with senior Antonio Thomas leading the pack at 9:18.72, and sophomore Sebastian Odent finished fourth with a time of 9:51.75.
The 200m freestyle was a bit of a mixed bag. For the women, Howell finished in first (1:52.84) while sophomore Alex Thorson took home fourth place with a time of 1:55.52. The men also ranged in results as freshman Jonathan Hill finished second(1:41.33), sophomore Pawel Krawczyk finished fourth (1:41.39), and freshman James Vaughn who finished eighthat 1:47.84.
“This was not one of our better performances,” head coach Dave Collins said after the meet. “We were challenged early (in the meet), and we struggled to respond.”
The women finished third (junior Anna Miller, 23.63), and sixth (sophomore Hannah Amelung, 24.51) in the 50m free. The lone finisher in the men’s 50m free was senior Samuel Senn at 21.09.
The 200m individual medley was favorable for the Bears as well. The women finished at second with sophomore Sydney Radloff (2:08.45), and senior Haley Allen came in at fourth (2:11.16). The men continued their success on the night with sophomore Arthur Cury taking second (1:54.85), freshman Tyler Lewis posted fifth (1:57.03) and sophomore Conner Funke (1:57.79) followed.
The Bears divers dominated the women’s 3-meter dive, though. Junior Dyana Popa took home first place (249.60), followed by sophomore Adriana Avila in second(248.62), Junior Ashley Yarbrough in third(242.60) and senior Payton Smith taking fourth(199.20). The men also finished towards the top of the board. Junior Michael Claunch (269.62) took second, sophomore Trevor Fischer (211.57) took third, sophomore John David Spence (207.97) finished fourth.
After the meet concluded, Collins already had his mind on the conference championships that are around the corner.
“My hope is that we can learn from tonight and move forward as we approach the (Missouri Valley Conference) and (Mid-American Conference) championships,” Collins said.
Up next for the Bears will be the Shamrock Invitational. The squad will travel to South Bend, Indiana, at the historical University of Notre Dame. MSU will compete against some stiff competition, including Notre Dame, Iowa, Ohio State and Akron. The final meet of the regular season will take place on Jan. 24-25 and looks to be a good tune-up meet for the MVC and MAC championships.