Oct. 6, 2015

CollegeSwimming.com Release | Follow @MoStateSwim

SOMERS, Wis. - Following a runner-up finish at the Show-Me Showdown Friday, the Missouri State men's swimming and diving team is No. 18 in the opening CollegeSwimming.com Rankings of the 2015-16 season, the website announced Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The Bears finished runner-up out of 11 teams at the Showdown hosted by Missouri at the Mizzou Aquatics Center, with MSU scoring 365 points in the event.

Totaling 653.62 points in the CollegeSwimming.com Rankings, the Bears finished ahead of the likes of Tennessee (640.10), Pittsburgh (634.79) and Iowa (630.00), which rounded out the top 25 teams.

Showdown host Missouri sits in fifth place with 709.69 points, behind ranking-leaders Florida (789.69), Alabama (719.97), Duke (713.45) and South Carolina (711.04).

The rankings utilize a point system based on NCAA time standards, predicted qualifying times and percentile rankings from the past four seasons.

In the Division I Mid-Major Rankings released by CollegeSwimming.com Tuesday, the Bears sit in sixth, while the Missouri State women's swimming and diving squad is ranked 15th after a third-place finish at the Showdown.

Missouri State will compete in Hammons Student Center for its next four events. A dual against Evansville begins the action in the pool Friday, Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. and Southern Illinois comes to Springfield for a dual at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. The Saturday dual against the Salukis will also be a "black out," with MSU handing out 100 free t-shirts to the first 100 students to the meet and all fans asked to wear a black shirt to the dual.

#MSUBears