The Mizzou men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams combined to win 22 of 26 events as the Tigers swept the Missouri State Bears Saturday afternoon at Hammons Student Center in Springfield, Mo. The women (4-2), who claimed all 13 of their events, posted a 188-51 win over the Bears, while the men (6-1) were victorious 152-84.
Senior Clark Thomas and sophomores Sharli Brady and Kira Zubar each notched double wins in the meet. Thomas swept the springboards with wins on 1-meter and 3-meter, with scores of 382.15 and 378.15, respectively, while Zubar took first in the 500 and 1000 free races after swims of 10:14.27 and 5:03.36. Meanwhile, Brady clocked times of 4:20.55 in the 400 IM and 2:01.19 in the 200 fly for her two wins.
The teams opened the dual with a sweep in the women’s and men’s 400 medley relays. The women’s squad of junior Nadine Laemmler, redshirt senior Abby Duncan, sophomore Erin Metzger-Seymour and senior Patterson touched first in 3:43.98, while the men’s quartet of juniors Carter Griffin, Fabian Schwingenschlogl and Andrew Sansoucie and senior Matthew Margritier took first in 3:17.19.
In the 200 breast, Duncan and Schwingenschlogl earned wins. Duncan clocked a time of 2:11.94, while Schwingenschlogl took first in 2:00.78.
Mizzou also claimed event sweeps in the 50 free, 200 free and 200 back events. Freshman Maddie Gehrke (23.81) and Margritier took home wins in the 50 free, sophomore Rachel Hayden (1:53.49) and freshman Sam Coffman (1:42.59) won the 200 free, and junior Nadine Laemmler (1:59.15) and Griffin won the
200 back.
Also victorious for the Tigers were senior Daniel Graviss in the 400 IM (3:58.02), freshman Iliana Jones in the 100 free (51.97), sophomore Alexa Beckwith on 1-meter (303.40) and sophomore Madeline McKernan on 3-meter (300.15).
The Tigers women closed the meet with first-place finishes in the 200 free relay. On the women’s side, Hayden, Jones, Gehrke and Patterson clocked a 1:34.07, and on the men’s side, Margritier, junior Christian Aragona, Sansoucie and freshman Luke Mankus touched the wall in 1:22.22.
The Mizzou women are back in action on Thursday, Jan. 28 as the team hosts Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
Missouri State
The Missouri State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dropped their final dual of the season on Senior Day to the No. 13/19 Missouri Tigers at Hammons Student Center Saturday, Jan. 23. The Tigers broke a combined seven pool records en route to a 152-84 victory for the men’s squad and 188-51 win for the women’s team.
“It was very competitive I thought,” Missouri State head coach Dave Collins said. “The scores are not going to maybe show that. When you get into competition with a school like Mizzou from an SEC type of conference, they’re going to really hammer you in depth. That’s where we’re always going to struggle against a team like that and obviously being nationally ranked like they are. They’re very good, and it was good to see our guys battle some All-Americans and see us win some races and challenge though, men and women.
The Bears and Tigers opened competition in the 400-yard medley relay, with the MSU women’s ‘A’ relay of Sydney Zupan, Lauren Pavel, Dora Kiss and Hope Ernhart placing third in a time of 3 minutes, 53.75 seconds. The MSU men’s ‘A’ relay of Bryce Blattner, Isaac Springer, Artur Osvath and Uvis Kalnins earned a runner-up showing with a time of 3:21.54.
MSU men’s swimmer Minki Kang touched the wall in a personal-best 9:18.40 in the 1000 freestyle, less than half a second off a pool-record mark but still good for first place. Ethan Bresette finished in third place by just .04 seconds with a time of 9:36.78. Heather Snyder led the Bears’ women’s team behind a season-best 10:19.78 finish for runner-up while Brianna McCullough (10:51.36) earned her MSU-best mark for third.
Michael Mollak (1:42.65) finished the highest among MSU swimmers in the 200 free by placing second, while Kacper Cwiek (1:42.72) and Will Brand (1:42.96) earned third and fifth, respectively.
Both Josie Pearson (4:29.74) and Kalnins (3:58.31) earned second-place finishes in the 400 IM. Briana Horozewski (4:36.29), Christopher Heye (4:02.33) and Bryce Blattner (4:05.18) all placed in the top four in the event.
Artur Osvath missed a pool record in the 200 butterfly by a tenth of a second with his 1:50.16 time in a first-place finish and Kacper Cwiek took fourth. Dora Kiss (2:05.23) led the way for MSU in the event on the women’s side by taking second and Ibby Simcox (2:09.72) and Emma Wall (2:09.77) took fourth and fifth.
“I think we did really well as a team (this week) stepping up to the challenge.” Simcox said of facing two rivals over a three-day span. “Having two meets in a row is always a little tough, but everyone did really well racing tough against Drury Thursday and then keeping that momentum going into the meet today. I think we raced really tough against an awesome Mizzou team, had some good times and now we can look forward to taper and conference.
Uvis Kalnins also nearly broke a Hammons Student Center mark in the 100 free by missing the record by just .22 seconds, but still earned first in the event with a time of 44.71.
In the 500 free, Kang took a team-best first in the event with a time of 4:34.92. Snyder finished runner-up, Emma Metz and Mollak each took third and Ethan Bresette earned fourth.
MSU’s Zupan, Blattner, Pavel, Osvath and Heye each had a top-four showing in either the 200 backstroke or 200 breaststroke.
“It was a good opportunity to race some really good opponents,” Collins said on MSU’s rivalry weekend. We’re just really trying to execute some details going into the conference championships and fine tune our races. It’s good when teams come together for rivalry meets like this. It’s just extra, and it’s fun to watch them go (race).
“Today being Senior Day always add a little more emotion to it. Each year it seems like we have such a good group of seniors, but this is a special group. You think back and it doesn’t feel like it’s been four years with them but, a great group and I know they have a lot they still want to get accomplished in the next couple of weeks.”
The Bears’ women’s swimming and diving team completed its regular season and will return to action at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Carbondale, Illinois, on Feb. 17. The Missouri State men’s team heads to the Shamrock Invitational next in South Bend, Indiana, for its final meet of the regular season from Jan. 29-30.
“Now it’s all about the details,” Kalnins said of MSU swimming its last dual. “I think if we are able to stay at the same level or even improve a little bit from this week going into the Shamrock Invitational, that would be big for us because it’s a tough, three-session meet put into two days. But, it’s a good last prep for the conference meet."
