Missouri State

Junior Sydney Zupan kicked off her 2016-17 season in a record-breaking weekend at the first annual Missouri State Invitational. The Wildwood, Mo., native was the top performer for the Bears as she earned five, first-place victories and a third-place finish along with setting two, new personal and pool records. Zupan started the day strong when she gave the Bears a commanding lead in the third leg of the 400-yard medley relay. Thanks to her performance in the event, the Bears victoriously went on to break the pool record with a time of 3:43.79, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of second-place Rice. In the 100y butterfly, Zupan kept the excitement going as she set a new personal and pool record in a dominating, 55.12 second outing in the A-Final. The women’s 100 backstroke B-Final proved to be equally as exciting as Zupan set her second personal record of the day with a time of 54.95, which proved to be the fastest time in both heats of the event. In her fourth race of the day, Zupan swam the third leg in Missouri State’s victorious 200 medley relay team that ultimately finished the event with a time of 1:42.40. Zupan’s leg is what set the race apart for the Bears, giving the squad a commanding lead over Rice and Houston. In her fifth victory of the day, Zupan took home the 200 backstroke A-Final after leading the entire race. The junior was just under a second away from setting her third personal record of the day, swimming the event in a time of 2:00.02. Heading into the final event of the day, the Bears led the Houston Cougars by just two points. Zupan closed out the Missouri State Invitational as the first leg of the women’s 400 freestyle relay where she swam neck-and-neck with Houston. As the first leg of the relay for the Bears, Zupan kept the squad at the front of the pack as she finished her leg in 51.67 seconds. With the help of Zupan, Missouri State would go on to finish third in the event, earning just enough points to earn a co-champion title with 347 points.