The Bears swimming and diving teams will travel to Carbondale, Ill. to compete against conference rival Southern Illinois on Oct. 30. This meet will serve as a warm up for the conference meets in early 2011. Both the Missouri Valley and Mid-American Conference meets will be held in Carbondale.

The last time the Bears hit the pool, they dropped a tough meet to cross-town foe Drury University. The men's meet was so close, that the meet was determined by the final race of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Bears lost the race, and the meet, by a mere .4 seconds.

On the women's side last year, Missouri State defeated Southern Illinois in both the dual season and the conference meets. However, sophomore Kirsten Groome of Southern Illinois is the reigning MVC Swimmer of the Year. Groome set new conference records in every event she swam in during the conference meet (500-yard freestyle, 400-yard IM, 1000-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle). Even with that help, the Bears went on to win the conference championship for the third consecutive year.

For the men, it was the same story. The Bears defeated the Salukis in both the regular season and in the conference meet. Missouri State finished in third while Southern Illinois finished fifth in both schools' first year in the MAC.

The two teams have been evenly matched throughout the years. For the men, the all-time series record is 11-10 in favor of the Bears. The women's series is 9-5 in favor of the Salukis. Additionally, since the inception of women's swimming at Missouri State, only two teams have ever won MVC titles: Missouri State and Southern Illinois.

The meet will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Bears will return home on Nov. 5, when they will take on the Lindenwood Tigers. That contest will begin at 5:00 p.m.