The Missouri State men’s swimming and diving team completed a season sweep and evened the all-time series with Drury to highlight the Bears’ men’s and women’s Duel in the Pool meet at Breech Pool on Thursday, Jan. 22, on the campus of Drury University.
The Bears’ men’s squad earned their second dual victory of the season over the Panthers, 126-108, to even the all-time series at 15-15.
“That’s been something they’ve been talking about,” MSU head coach Dave Collins said of the MSU men’s victory. “We didn’t like how it felt last year getting beat [at Breech Pool]. We had beat them the year before (here) and we wanted to make sure we got them back. I think the guys were pretty excited about it and I think they had the right mentality coming in, and it showed.”
“I think it’s important right before conference just get the competition level up,” senior men’s swimmer Caleb Schuermann said of the Duel in the Pool series. “It’s a good dual to have in the beginning of the year and the end of the year.”
While the men earned a season sweep, the Bears’ women’s squad was defeated 169-72 by the Panthers Thursday for the second time this season.
“We’ve got to continue working on doing a better job racing tired,” Collins said. “It’s something that you have to do in a sport if you want to be successful. Today, the men did a better job of that and the women struggled a little bit. I think we’re learning though, it’s a process and it’s something we need to keep working on.”
The MSU men got off to a strong start with Paul Le, Isaac Springer, Vitalii Baryshok and Uvis Kalnins teaming up to set another season-best time in the 200 medley relay. The Bears’ relay squad came in at 1:29.60 for a first-place finish.
Baryshok was among several top performers for MSU Thursday. The senior earned his top times of the season in the 100 fly (48.82) and 200 free (1:39.75), while clinching first and second place in each event, respectively. Le also had significant finishes for MSU, claiming his best time this season while finishing runner-up by .02 seconds in the 50 free (20.37) and also placing second in the 100 back (48.37), which beat the previous pool record.
Ethan Bresette (4:35.06) edged out Miguel Davila (4:38.02) in the 500 free, with the MSU pair going 1-2 in the event. Davila captured the 1000 free top time by finishing in 9:26.46, while Brandon Weissman (9:44.48) placed fourth. Canaan Campbell earned personal bests in both 500 and 1000, placing sixth and fifth, respectively. Jack Snow also earned a season-best time in the 100 back (52.31)
Kalnins broke his own pool record he set last season in the 200 IM by finishing first in a time of 1:48.11. Freshman Kacper Cwiek earned runner-up honors with a time of 50.17 and also led the Bears with a third-place showing in the 100 fly (50.17).
Garrett Nevels earned 343.27 points in the 1-meter and 373.50 points in the 3-meter to lead the MSU divers, while Elijah Swaim placed second in both and Brody Arvesen came in third.
Schuermann had his top time of the season in the 100 free (47.12) and helped complete a runner-up finish as the anchor leg for the Bears’ top 200 free relay squad to conclude the dual.
“I think I’m more excited than ever,” Schuermann said of MSU’s remaining schedule. “I’m just going out with a bang with the guys in the senior class.”
On the women’s side, the Bears had several standout performances against Drury. Carly Wright, Sydney Zupan, Lauren Williams and Quincy Howell each had season-best swims.
Wright placed third and finished the 1000 free in a time of 10:31.16. Zupan earned fourth in the 200 free in a time of 1:55.90, Williams finished the 100 free in 56.05 and Howell touched the wall at 1:00.98 in the 100 back.
Kate Gately earned two runner-up finishes in the 50 (24.01) and 100 free (52.24) for the Bears, with Anna Bump placing third in both. Megan Holthoff earned second in the 100 back (1:00.40) and fifth in the 50 free (25.15), while Briana Horozewski placed third in the 100 back in a time of 1:00.44.
Nina Privitera led the Bears’ women’s divers with two runner-up finishes, earning 243.30 points in the 1-meter and 231.30 points in the 3-meter dives. Alexis Skiniotes placed third in both events for MSU.
“As a whole we started out a little rough, 3-meter I would say wasn’t our best performance we’ve had all season,” Privitera said. “But 1-meter we pulled through and our scores as whole definitely improved. I’d say overall we have some more work to do before conference comes up. I think we react pretty well to pressure, we definitely have our weaknesses, but we’re coming through strong with some of the things we’ve been focusing on during the last few weeks.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams are set to compete on back-to-back days. The MSU men’s team heads to Rolla to face Missouri S&T at 5 p.m. Friday, while the Bears’ women’s team travels to Fayetteville Friday to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks at 4 p.m.
“We’re going to challenge them tomorrow morning before we even get to the meet,” Collins said. “It’s just that time of the year. We will look forward to them racing a good Rolla [Missouri S&T] team and an SEC opponent in Arkansas, so it doesn’t get any easier tomorrow.”
