Missouri State, Southern Illinois Swimming Split Dual Meets in Illinois

Photo Courtesy: Missouri State

CARBONDALE, Illinois, October 11. Missouri State and Southern Illinois swimming split a pair of dual meets on Saturday. The Bears won the men’s meet, 156-144, while the Salukis topped the women’s meet, 191-109.

Missouri State Press Release

The Missouri State men’s swimming and diving team pulled off an undefeated weekend by outdueling Southern Illinois 156-144, while the women’s swimming and diving team fell short against the Salukis, 191-109, on Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.

“I was pleased with the way the men responded and raced with some key contributors out,” head coach Dave Collins said. “The guys scrapped and got the win against a good conference opponent.”

With the Bears men missing a few key individuals, a complete team effort was essential in the dual.

After earning a victory in the 200 medley relay behind the group of Le/Springer/Dennis/Kalnins, MSU picked up 2-3-4 finishes in the 100 free behind Ethan Bresette (9:46.72), Caleb Schuermann (9:51.89) and Brandon Weissman (10:00.63).

The Bears continued to hang tough in a variety of events. Paul Le won the 100 back in a time of 48.98, followed by Preston Selby with a 52.91. In the 100 free, MSU went 2-3 with Isaac McKnight (46.60) and Will Brand (47.37) leading the way. Le also won the 200 back with Will Frisbie and Weissman finishing third and fourth, respectively. In diving, Garrett Nevels placed second in both 1-meter diving (354.38) and 3-meter diving (370.35), whle Elijah Swaim finished third in both dives.

“It’s always fun to compete head-to-head against SIU in a dual meet set up,” men’s captain Issac McKnight said. “They are tough racers and with a longer format, it was a real battle to come out on top. After yesterday’s win against Evansville, I was happy we were able to refocus and get the job done today.”

MSU owned the breaststroke events on the men’s side.

Uldis Tazans finished first in the 100 breast (57.75) and second in the 200 (2:07.73). Uvis Kalnins won the 200 breast in a time of 2:05.06 with Christopher Heye coming in fourth, while Isaac Springer and Aaron Dennis placed third and fourth in the 100 breast.

“I was happy to compete this weekend with my teammates,” sophomore Uldis Tazans said. “It was a difficult week of training for us and I am glad that we could step up and show what we can do with some guys out. We are all looking forward to getting everyone back and being at full strength.”

Kate Gately and Lauren Pavel each won two events Saturday on the MSU women’s side.

Gately won the 50 free in a time of 24.24 and the 100 free in 53.03. Pavel took top honors in the 200 breast (2:26.22) and the 100 breast (1:07.08).

“It felt good to be back in the conference pool swimming my favorite events,” junior Kate Gately said. “It was important for me to pay attention to the small details in a race, such as turns and breakouts, in order to do my best as well as score points for the team.

Sydney Zupan, Megan Holthoff and Briana Horozewski went 2-4-5 for MSU in the 100 back, with each dropping their season times in the event. Following Pavel in the 100 breast and finishing third and fourth respectively, was Alyssa Powers (1:08.35) and Anna Bump (1:08.72). Nina Privitera placed third in the 1-meter dive (252.08) for her career-best score in the event.

“As a young team, you have to learn from experiences especially in the early part of the season,” Collins said. “Today is a teaching moment in the fact that we have a lot of work to do in order to achieve our goals in February. Our athletes and our staff are looking forward to getting back to work on Monday and continuing to improve.”

“Although the meet didn’t go as we would have liked, it was a wake up call,” women’s captain Alyssa Powers said. “There were some good things and some not so good, but we will take it as a learning experience and build from it. The team did a great job of supporting each other. It just didn’t come together for us today, but we will use this as fuel to race hard at our dual against Drury on Thursday.

The Bears host their first dual of the 2014-15 season at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. in the “Dual in the Pool” at the Hammons Student Center against Drury University.

Southern Illinois Press Release

The Southern Illinois University swimming and diving teams looked impressive in their meet against Missouri State on Saturday, with the women earning a win and the men dropping a close decision.

The Saluki women earned a decisive 191-109 victory over their MSU counterparts.

SIU’s freshmen continued to make a strong impact, accounting for six individual wins on Saturday. Kelsie Walker had an outstanding day, picking up wins in the 500-yard Freestyle, 1000-yard Freestyle, and the 200-yard Butterfly. Bryn Handley added two wins, taking first in the 200-yard Freestyle and the 200-yard IM. Chandler Ott rounded out the terrific freshmen performance, earning a win in the 100-yard Butterfly.

SIU was also dominant in the relay portion of the competition, winning the 200-yard Medley Relay and the 200-yard Freestyle Relay. Sarah James, Holly Johnson, McKenna Avery and Ott combined to take first in the 200-yard Medley Relay, while the team of Ella Otto, Avery, Handley, and Johnson won the 200-yard Freestyle.

For the second time this season, Kaixuan `Sherry’ Zhang and Esther Chen finished first and second respectively in the one and three-meter Dive.

In the men’s portion of the meet, the Salukis were narrowly defeated by the Bears, 156-144.

Till Pallmann and Michael Wolfe led the swim team, picking up three wins apiece. Pallmann took first in the 50-yard Freestyle, 100-yard Freestyle, and the 200-yard Freestyle. Wolfe was just as good against the Bears, winning the 200-yard Butterfly, 500-yard Freestyle, and the 1000-yard Freestyle. SIU was also able to pick up a win in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay. The team of Alex Crawford, Shaun Wolfe, Joe Seguine-Hall, and Pallmann finished the event in 1:24.78.

Kegan Skelton once again took charge for the diving team, sweeping the one and three-meter Dives. Skelton has now swept the two events in back-to-back meets.

SIU will have several weeks to prepare for their next meet, when they travel to Bloomington, Ill., on Nov. 1 to face Illinois State and the University of Illinois.

Results: Southern Illinois vs. Missouri State

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