The Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving teams each picked up a victory against Western Illinois University, Friday evening, in Macomb, Ill. The men won with a score of 138-96 and the women dominated 143-82, in their first dual meet of the season.

Eduardo Pajares and Ignacio Gayo led the men's team with two first-place finishes. Pajares was first in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:44.90 and in the 200-yard backstroke at 1:53.90. Gayo showed strength in the sprint freestyle events by taking first in the 100-yard freestyle at 47.66 and the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:45.37.

Other first-place victories from the men's side included Mitch Richards in the 50-yard freestyle (21.81), A.J. Goertzen in the 400-yard IM (4:13.78) and Victor Serra in the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.28).

The Missouri State women's team gathered nine individual victories against WIU. Liz Geisler had a commanding first-place victory in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing 13.51 seconds ahead of second place, touching the wall at 5:07.16. Marcy O'Neil swam to victory in the 100-yard freestyle (54:12), Courtney Phillips in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:38.27), Kristen Boren in the 200-yard freestyle (2:02.46), Jody Jelen in the 400-yard IM (4:41.46) and Stacey Arkovich won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

The women dominated the 200-yard backstroke event with Francy Palma, Allison Zeller, and Jordan Hawkins taking a 1-2-3 finish respectively. Palma won the event in 2:09.55. The Bears also pulled out a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard butterfly, led by Andi Rojas (2:09.41), and followed by Jody Jelen and Jennifer Burchard.

The Missouri State swimming and diving teams will be back in the water for their first home meet at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, October 22, at Hammons Student Center, at 9:00 a.m., against Delta State University.