Southern Illinois vs. Missouri State

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri, October 15. THE Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving teams each posted victories over conference-rival Southern Illinois to move to 1-0 in dual meet action on Saturday at Hammons Student Center.

After both squads suffered losses to the Salukis last year in Carbondale, Ill., the Bears got the revenge they were seeking. The women posted a 132-109 win over the SIU, while the men won by a similar score of 132-111.

"That was a very good Southern Illinois team that both our men and women were able to defeat," associate head coach Dave Collins said. "It was a very good effort by both the men and women. We're really excited where we're at after a hard week of training."

The women set the tone early in the first swimming event with a victory in the 400-yard medley relay, defeating SIU by six seconds. Sophomore Anna Ahlin led off the relay with a record-breaking performance, setting a new pool record in the 100 backstroke with her lead-off split of 57.93.

Continuing the strong swims, senior Dimitra Drakopoulou edged out SIU's Jill Weekbach by one tenth of a second in the 200 freestyle (1:54.89).

The Bears showed great depth in the women's 100 freestyle as they completed the 1-2-3 sweep. Junior Andrea Uzcategui (53.43) led the way, followed by seniors Brianna Willoughby (54.15) and Ali Stauffer (54.69).

Other event winners included Ahlin in the 200 backstroke (2:05.29) and sophomore Renata Sander in the 200 breaststroke.

The men started out the afternoon with a bang touching out Southern Illinois in the 400 medley relay. The close races continued as the top-two finishers at the 2011 Mid-American Conference Championships went head-to-head in the 1000 freestyle. Sophomore Jared Roberts provided the dramatic finish touching out SIU's Csaba Gercsak.

The strong freshman class provided a spark for the Bears in the individual events. Chris Carpenter got the ball rolling for the newcomers with a victory in the 200 individual medley (1:54.14). Matthew Wilson followed with a win in the 200 butterfly after the break. It didn't stop there. Freshman Paul Le nearly broke the pool record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:49.62. And wrapping up the first-place finishes for the group of freshman swimmers was Caleb Schuermann in the 500 freestyle (4:40.59).

Sophomore Vitalii Baryshok also collected two victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

The Bears will continue their home stand with their next meet coming on Oct. 28 as they face cross-town rival Drury University at 5 p.m.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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