The Southern Illinois University swimming & diving teams continued their winning ways Friday night as the Salukis picked up a pair of wins over conference rival Missouri State. The men's team beat the Bears 49-37 while the women came away with a 54-32 win.

Both teams improve to 2-0 in dual meets on the season and 2-0 in their respective conferences. For the men, it was their first meeting with Missouri State since the teams joined the Sun Belt Conference over the summer. The women's teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Salukis combined to win 12 of the 20 events en route to the overall victory but the highlight of the night came as SIU's women's 200 Free Relay team of Julie Ju, Therese Mattsson, Danielle Quarry and Isabel Madeira not only won the event with a time of 1:36.28, but set a new Hammons Student Center Pool record.

SIU used a balanced attack in both the men's and women's competitions to get the win. With the top three finishers in each event scoring points, the men's and women's teams each had five swimmers scoring in multiple events.

The Bears' women's team was able to hold off the Salukis in the first race, the 200 medley relay. Allison Zeller, Fran

Moody, Andi Rojas and Jordan Hawkins combined for a time of 1:47.61 and broke the Hammons Pool record that MSU set in its first dual meet of the season against Nebraska. The Salukis finished close behind in 1:48.49.

Senior Kyla Meuer was the first individual winner for the MSU women's team. She claimed gold in the 100 IM in 1:00.94.

She also added a second-place finish in the 50 breast, touching the wall at 31.01. Freshman Fran Moody was the event champion in the 50 butterfly, stopping the clock at 26.73.

Allison Zeller won her second-straight backstroke race of the season as she fought off SIU's Kelly Dvorak for the win in the 50 back with a time of 27.30. Dvorak was right on her tail, finishing in 27.44.

For the men, it was sophomore Dennis Hedo leading the way with two individual wins. Hedo started off the night with a victory in the 200 Free, winning with a time of 1:41.54. He followed it up with a 26.88 in the 50 Breast to take his second win of the night. That wasn't where Hedo's success for the night stopped. He also swam anchor for the winning 200 Free Relay team (1:23.72). Also swimming on the team for the Salukis were Stephan Ackermann, Vinicius Waked and Gareth McGee. Ackermann and McGee also picked up individual titles during the meet. Ackermann won the 50 Fly with a 22.70 while McGee took top honors in the 50 Back with a 24.44. The duo also had runner-up finishes on the night. Ackermann finished right behind Hedo in the 200 Free, coming in second with a time of 1:43.25, while McGee finished second in the 100 IM (52.40). Senior Andrew Flor picked up the sixth and final victory for the Salukis in the 1-Meter Dive. Flor scored a 170.40 to win by a little more than two points. Others scoring for the men's team were Waked (50 Free, 100 Free), Antonio Santoro (50 Fly, 100 Free) and Alexandre Marrucho (50 Back). In the women's competition, it was Madeira leading the way for SIU with two individual wins. The sophomore won the 50 Free with a time of 24.36 before coming back later to win the 100 Free with a 52.38. Senior Nora Bunford also picked up a win in the meet, taking first in the 50 Breast with a time of 30.38. Ju followed Bunford in the 50 Breast, coming in second with a time of 31.06. But, she also had a win of her own on the night, finishing first in the 200 Free with a time of 1:52.91.

In the women's diving competition, it was freshman Emily Gable taking the win in the 1-Meter Dive with a score of 173.18. She was followed by teammate Cristina Curtuneanu in second place with a score of 168.23.

The men's side of the meet started off similar to the women's as the Bears won the 200 medley relay. Eduardo Pajares, Jesse Lund, Victor Serra and Ignacio Gayo clocked a time of 1:34.38, beating the Salukis by over two seconds. Junior Ignacio Gayo was the only double individual event winner for Missouri State as he sprinted his way to a first-place win in the 50 freestyle in a time of 21.32 and won the 100 freestyle in 46.18.

Sophomore Victor Serra added a win for the Bears in the 100 IM, finishing in 52.02. He also added a second-place finish in the 50 fly (22.97).

The Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving teams will be back in action at Hammons Student Center on Saturday, October 21, to compete against Truman State University at 2 p.m. The Salukis will stay in Springfield and return to action Saturday, Oct. 21 with a dual meet at Drury beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Drury's men's squad is the reigning NCAA Division II national champion while the women's team is the reigning NCAA Division II national runner-up. The SIU-Drury meet was also selected by Swimming World Magazine as its college meet of the week.