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The Missouri State swimming and diving team’s depth carried the Bears to a pair of wins against Drury, Thursday night at Breech Pool. The women’s team made out with a 124-117 victory while the men posted a score of 140-91 over the Panthers.
MSU Women, 124-117
Missouri State’s underclassmen went the distance in the 1000 free as freshman Libby Howell and Brooke Dreiling finished second and third, respectively. Howell touched the wall in 10:20.75 while Dreiling finished in 10:25.17.
Missouri State owned the 50 and 200 free events, picking up the top-two spots in each event. Standout Sydney Zupan was masterful in her first-place effort in the 200 free, while Howell touched the wall second. Zupan went on to place second in the 100 fly later in the evening. Speedsters Loretta Stelnicki and Anna Miller topped the competition in the 50 free, as the two finished first and second, respectively. Miller and Stelnicki broke out top-three performances later in the 100 free, where Miller took home first (52.52 seconds) and Stelnicki grabbed third.
Later in the evening, the Bears went 2-3 in both the 100 back and 500 free. Sarah Allegri was the top finisher for MSU in the 100 back and was followed closely by newcomer Madison Brown in third. In her inaugural meet as a Bear, newcomer Leticia Rodrigues earned a silver finish in the 500 free. Howell was the next to finish the event, placing third overall.
Junior Josie Pearson earned her highest finish of the night in the 100 breast, where she touched the wall second in 1:07.50. Two other Bears followed suit as Vikte Labanauskaite finished third and Monica Blake placed fourth.
Freshman diver Ashley Yarbrough swept the boards once again, totaling 261.52 points on the 3-meter and 216.37 on the 1-meter. On the 1-meter, Dayana Popa finished second while Payton Smith earned a third-place finish. The women finished second in both the 200 medley and 200 free relays.
MSU Men, 140-91
Missouri State began the night with an impressive, first-place showing in the 200 medley relay. Jacob Schultz, Blair Bish, Artur Osvath and Samuel Senn outlasted the rest of the field and finished the group effort with a time of 1:30.74.
Missouri State rode the momentum into the 1000 free where sophomore standout Antonio Thomas clinched the top spot and Minki Kang grabbed third. The Bears, led by Kacper Cwiek, finished 2-3-4 in the 200 free.
Newcomer Lucas Paloschi led the MSU charge in the 50 free, garnering a first-place finish in 20.60 seconds. Just .28 seconds behind Paloschi, Senn finished third in the event. Osvath, Christopher Heye, and Phillip Willett each earned top-five finishes in the 200 IM. Osvath, who was also crowned champion in the 100 fly, was the first of bunch to finish, followed by Heye in second and Willett in fourth.
Finding success in the 100 breast, Bish was masterful yet again as he clinched the top spot in 56.17 seconds. The Bears took second in three more events – Kang was the top finisher for the Bears in the 500 free (4:33.69), sophomore Conner Ripp touched the wall second in the 100 back (51.14) and Paloschi was the runner-up in the 100 free (46.36).
Missouri State’s divers, Michael Claunch and Connor Cox, placed first and second at the dual. Claunch swept both boards, earning 267.97 points on the 3-meter and 259.50 points on the 1-meter, while Cox finished second.
Coming Up Next
The Missouri State swimming and diving team will honor 10 seniors during its Senior Day meet against the University of Missouri on Saturday, Jan. 20, at Hammons Student Center. The dual will serve as the Bears’ final home meet of the season, as well as the women’s regular season finale.
