The Missouri State swimming and diving teams split a dual meet with Southern Illinois Saturday in Carbondale, Ill. The MSU men defeated the Salukis 128-115 after falling to them earlier in the season. The MSU women were dominated by SIU in the pool as the Salukis outscored them 173-70.

Eduardo Pajares led the Bears with three wins on the day. The sophomore was the lead leg in the winning 400 medley relay that finished in a time of 3:26.32. Pajares also won the 400 IM and 200 backstroke in times of 4:00.03 and 1:48.51, respectively.

Victor Serra stopped the clock at 1:50.07 to win the 200 butterfly for the Bears and MSU senior Greg Temple added a win in the 200 breaststroke (2:05.36).

Ryan Maeker and Cole Kalkbrenner split wins in the diving competitions. Maeker claimed victory on the one-meter board with 256.28 points and Kalkbrenner was the winner on the three-meter board with 273.98 points.

On the women's side of the meet, Andi Rojas was the only first-place winner for Missouri State. Rojas clocked a time of 2:08.31 in the 200 butterfly, edging SIU's Rachel Winius by just one-tenth of a second.

The SIU dual concluded both the Bears' men's and women's swimming and diving regular seasons. The MSU women will compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Thurs.-Sat., Feb. 8-10, in Carbondale, Ill. The MSU men will compete in their first ever Sun Belt Conference Championship the next week on Thurs.-Sat., Feb. 15-18, in Nashville, Tenn.