The Missouri State men’s swimming and diving teams broke four pool records which led the Bears to a 131.5-72.5 dual victory over host Missouri S&T at the S&T Pool in Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building on Friday, Jan. 23.
After racing less than 24 hours hours prior in the Duel in the Pool, the Bears started out strong by breaking the first pool record in the 200 medley relay (1:31.75) behind the group of Paul Le, Isaac Springer, Vitalii Baryshok and Uvis Kalnins.
After winning the 1000 free at Drury Thursday, Miguel Davila earned another victory in the event Friday, breaking the S&T pool record in a time of 9:25.14.
“I am very pleased with my training at this point,” MSU junior Miguel Davila said. “I was unsure how back-to-back 1000 races would go, but racing tired and being able to still perform well gets us all really excited for what’s coming in March.”
In the next two events, the Bears earned second and third-place finishes in the 200 free with Kalnins and Kacper Cwiek, respectively, and in the 50 free with Caleb Schuermann and Baryshok.
MSU created some separation following the two S&T victories by having a first-place finisher in the next five events.
Le earned the first of two individual event victories by clinching a pool record in the 200 IM (1:50.79). He later followed that with top honors in the 100 free (46.04).
Matthew Wilson finished first in the 100 fly (1:51.41) – five seconds ahead of his nearest competitor – in the evening’s sixth event, while Will Brand (1:57.34) and Canaan Campbell (1:58.07) went third and fourth to earn points for MSU.
The Bears put the meet out of reach in the eight event, the 200 back. Uvis Kalnins swam a season-best and pool-record 1:52.01 to place first, with Brandon Weissman (1:56.49) and Jack Snow (1:56.68) finishing in the next two spots to give MSU a commanding lead.
MSU completed the dual with the top two 200 free relay squads. The group of Wilson, Preston Selby, Cwiek and Weissman placed first in less than a second ahead of the Bears’ runner-up quartet of Isaac McKnight, Schuermann, Brand and Aaron Dennis.
“I was very pleased with the men’s effort tonight,” MSU head coach Dave Collins said. “We swam some guys in third events to give us some options as we get ready for the MAC championship. This group has really learned to race tough in any environment, which I feel is a good thing as we approach March.”
The Missouri State Bears are scheduled next to head to the Shamrock Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind., to compete in the two-day double dual beginning at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. The meet hosted by Notre Dame will feature the Bears, the Fighting Irish and the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes.
