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Missouri State, Southern Illinois Locked in Tight MVC Battle

Missouri State

Two swimmers broke conference and school records on the second day of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Championship, to help the Missouri State women’s swimming and diving team extend its lead to eight points on Thursday, Feb. 19, at Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.

“We talked before the meet started about trying to grab some momentum,” head coach Dave Collins said. “Dora (Kiss) right out of the gate did that.”

Kiss served as the lone MSU swimmer in the 500 free A-final and was fifth following the preliminary round.

“That was the plan, to go into the finals and have a side line,” junior Dora Kiss said. “(Southern Illinois) has incredible freestylers and I didn’t want to be in the middle and have them on both sides of me. I needed my own space and it turned out perfect.”

The previous back-to-back conference champion in the event, Kiss completed a three-peat in the A-final by setting a school-, pool- and conference-record time of 4:44.41. Her finish made the NCAA ‘B’ consideration cut.

“It’s funny because this is the time I dreamed of,” Kiss said. “I’ve been thinking about it for weeks, but when I touched the wall, I didn’t believe it.”

MSU’s Sydney Zupan placed 9th in the 500 free B-final in a personal-best 4:56.83, while Heather Snyder placed 15th (5:05.87) in the B-final. Emma Metz also had a personal-best time in the 500 free (5:03.96) in the prelims for the Bears.

The Bears controlled the 200 IM with four swimmers making the A-finals and three making the B-finals.

Lauren Pavel missed the school record by 0.67 seconds in the 200 IM in the prelims, then topped it in the finals with an MVC-record time of 2:02.84 for a gold-medal finish.

Rebecca Amparano set personal bests in the prelims and in a bronze-medal performance in the finals, by touching the wall in a time of 2:04.17. Briana Horozewski finished with a season-best time (2:05.35) for fourth and Emily Chesser placed seventh in the A-finals after completing her top time of the season in the prelims (2:06.62).

“Both (Pavel and Amparano) had great swims,” Collins said. “We had some good supporting cast to back up with some nice points.”

Ibby Simcox helped the Bears earn nine points in the 200 IM B-final with a personal-best 2:06.26, while CeCe Etter placed 13th (2:09.38) and Emma Wall finished 14th following her best time of her career in the prelims (2:08.87). Olivia Gean also had the top time in the C-final in a personal-mark of 2:10.61.

The Bears had three swimmers qualify for the A-finals as Kate Gately (23.13), Anna Bump (23.62) and Megan Holthoff (24.05) all set career bests in the 50 free prelims. Gately eventually placed third for MSU, followed by Bump in fifth and Holthoff in eighth.

“It was tough, but we raced tough this morning and we’re in a good spot,” junior Kate Gately said. “Anything can happen in finals’, but it was still a really good race and everyone swam really fast.”

Lauren Williams also beat her best time in the prelims finishing in 24.61.

MSU broke their season-best mark in the 200 free relay final, touching the wall in a time of 1:33.39. The finish was 0.33 seconds behind Evansville’s pool-record time. The Bears’ relay squad consisted of Gately, Bump, Holthoff and Zupan – who joined the MSU top relay group recently.  

“We just went for it,” Gately said. “Bump led off and she did a great job. I went second and then it was Megan and Sydney – a freshman anchor – she did awesome. She was nervous, but she had nothing to worry about.”

“I’m just really proud of her effort tonight,” Collins said of Zupan. “We’ve leaned on her in some events that we hadn’t really prepared her to compete in and she’s reacted well.”

In diving prelims, Nina Privitera led the Bears with 237.65 points but missed the finals by less than three seconds. MSU’s Hannah Swyers eventually had the top score and placed ninth with a personal-best 256.90 points in the consolation, followed by Privitera in tenth with her top score of her career (252.35), while Alexis Skiniotes scored 230.25 points.

MSU has 280.00 points following two days of action and are slightly ahead of the host Salukis, who have 272.00 points. Illinois State is in third place (193.50), Evansville fourth (191.00), Northern Iowa fifth (153.00) and Arkansas-Little Rock rounds out the team scores with 100.50 points.

“I think we have some nice momentum going into the next two days,” Collins said. “The next two days (of events) are probably our strongest events on paper, but we have to get up and get going in the morning.”

Action continues at the 2015 MVC Swimming and Diving Championship beginning with prelims at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 20, on the campus of Southern Illinois. Finals will begin at approximately 6 p.m.

 

Southern Illinois

Day Two of the MVC Swimming and Diving Championships left the Salukis hungry for a championship title, as the SIU women's swimming and diving team finished in second place with 272 points, only eight points behind reigning champions Missouri State.

The Salukis entered the finals session of Day Two with seven swimmers and three divers competing in the A Finals of their events. At the conclusion of the day, SIU came away with five top-five finishes in swimming, and two in diving.

"You have to be happy with today's performances," head coach Rick Walker said. "We've already scored more points than we ever have at this point in time, and I think it's looking very positive for us."

Junior Kaixuan 'Sherry' Zhang came away with SIU's only title of the day, taking first place in the One-Meter Dive for the second consecutive year. Zhang's score of 379.35 breaks the all-time MVC Championship record for six dives that she previously held at 346.25.

Missouri State came away with two all-time MVC Championship records, the first in the 500-yard freestyle. For the third consecutive year, Missouri State's Dora Kiss claimed the 500-yard Freestyle title, breaking the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium record and all-time MVC Championships record with a 4:44.41 finish.

SIU's Kelsie Walker took second place, finishing with a 4:46.07 mark, her fastest of the season. Bryn Handley and Helena Amorimfollowed in third and fourth places, respectively, Handley with a 4:52.81 finish and Amorim at 4:54.57. Lauren Stockton rounded out the Salukis in the A Final, coming in at sixth place with a 4:55.84 finish.

The Missouri State Bears clinched the 200 Individual Medley title with another all-time MVC Championships record, with Lauren Pavel finishing in 2:02.84. Freshman Chandler Ott represented the Salukis in the A Final, entering as the fifth seed. Ott finished in 2:07.68 to take sixth place overall.

After tying for the title at last year's championships, Illinois State's Marissa Yontz took first place in the 50-yard Freestyle, with a 23.10 finish. SIU's Holly Johnson earned fourth place, coming in at 23.47, followed by McKenna Avery in sixth place at 23.65.

The evening concluded with the 200-yard Freestyle Relay. The Evansville Purple Aces came away with the fourth MVC Championships record of the night, finishing in first place with a 1:33.06 time. The Salukis battled for a top position, coming in third with a 1:33.85 finish.

"The girls are very excited. They're fighting and I think they're focused. But they're focused on what they need to do, not what other people are going to do. I think that's where our comfort zone is," Walker said.

Day Three of the MVC Swimming and Diving Championships includes more events than today's session, such as the 400-yard Individual Medley and Medley Relay, 100-yard Butterfly, Breaststroke and Backstroke, the 200-yard Freestyle, and the Three-Meter Dive.

"Tomorrow is a big day," Walker said. "We have to maximize our positives, minimize our negatives and we can only worry about what we have control over."

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