The Missouri State women's swimming and diving team finished second to host Southern Illinois at the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday, after claiming four-straight titles from 2003-06. The Salukis won the title for the first time since 2002 with 894 points, claiming five of six event wins in today's final day of competition.

The Bears finished second with 807.5 points, followed by Illinois State with 740.5 points, Northern Iowa with 382 points and Evansville placed fifth with 314 points.

Allison Zeller had the Bears' only event win on the final day, taking home gold in the 200-yard backstroke and setting a new MSU varsity record in 2:03.35. The record was previously held by Francy Palma who set it at last year's conference championship meet in a time of 2:03.55.

Sophomore Jordan Hawkins placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 51.74. Her time breaks former-student athlete Ericka Norgren's varsity record by .06 of a second and her preliminary time of 51.59 will mark the new record.

Betsy Solari had a runner-up finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, stopping the clock at 17:43.02. Jessica Bennett finished fifth in the race in a time of 17:50.73 and Hilary Morrow was a close sixth in a time of 17:52.57.

The Bears had a two-three-four finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, with Fran Moody finishing second in 2:23.06, Kyla Meuer in third (2:23.13) and Stacey MacDonald finished fourth in 2:24.87.

Andi Rojas added a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:07.26. Breanna Hollar finished in a close fourth in a time of 2:09.32.

Missouri State ended the meet with a runner-up finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Meuer, Rojas, Moody and Hawkins teamed for a time of 3:30.78.

The MSU men's team will compete in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Thurs.-Sat., Feb. 15-18, in Nashville, Tenn.