Oct. 10, 2014
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving teams got off to a solid start in their conference-opening dual by defeating the Evansville Purple Aces 126-105 and 130-113, respectively, on Friday, Oct. 10, at the Roy and Mary Wyttenbach Pool.
The men remain undefeated at 17-0 all-time over the Purple Aces and the women improved to 13-2 with the victory.
"Evansville is a very good program and really swims tough at their home pool," head coach Dave Collins said. "I felt we were sluggish to start the meet, but changed gears quickly to battle for the win. Although the times were not impressive, I was pleased with the effort our athletes put forth after a difficult week of training."
The MSU women's squad won five of the first seven events and didn't look back against Evansville.
The 400 medley relay team of Sydney Zupan, Lauren Pavel, Ibby Simcox and Kate Gately got the Bears rolling with a dual-best time of 3:57.31. Dora Kiss won the 1000 free (10:30.12), Pavel took the 200 IM (2:12.16) and 100 breast (1:06.54), Simcox the 100 fly (59.40) and Zupan won the first two events of her career in the 200 free (1:56.50) and the 100 back (59.11).
"I feel so honored to be a part of such a hard working team," freshman Sydney Zupan said. "I can't wait to see what the rest of the season has in store for us."
Event season bests that highlighted the women's side included the 100 back with Megan Holthoff (1:00.33), Briana Horozewski (1:00.48) and Emily Chesser (1:00.83); the 1000 free by Heather Snyder (10:50.83) and Emma Metz (10:56.75); and the 100 breast with Horozewski, Alyssa Powers, Anna Bump and Olivia Gean lowering their 2014-15 times.
"The women's team did a great job of stepping up in order to win extremely close races," senior captain Shannon Myer said. "That ultimately led us to our first team victory of the season."
The Bears men's squad won eight of its first 10 events to cruise to a win.
MSU got off to a strong start with the combination of Uvis Kalnins, Isaac Springer, Paul Le and Will Brand winning the 400 medley relay with a season-best time of 3:28.59. Le, Springer and Brandon Weissman finished 1-2-4 in the 200 free in the day's sixth event. Isaac McKnight finished first in the 100 free with a time of 47.53, Preston Selby swam the 100 back in 53.49 in a dual-best time and Ethan Bresette placed first in the 500 free in a time of 4:46.71. Freshman Christopher Heye won his first collegiate event in the 200 IM (1:58.97) and was followed by senior Aaron Dennis (2:00.13).
"It felt really good to come in and help the team out with the win," Heye said. "I couldn't have done it without my coaches and the support of my teammates."
Season bests that highlighted the men's efforts included the 1000 free by Will Frisbie (10:27.97) and Max Pratt (10:37.12), as well as the 100 back by Uvis Kalnins (51.94), Selby, (53.49), Frisbie (54.18) and Weissman (55.44).
"I was very proud of the men's team today," captain Aaron Dennis said. "It was great to see high quality racing regardless of a tough week of training. It was also fun to watch the freshmen step up and win events. I look forward to the matchup tomorrow against SIU."
The Bears continue their road trip with a conference dual against the Southern Illinois Salukis in Carbondale, Ill., beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11.
"We will have to swim well if we want to compete with SIU," Collins said. "We will need a complete team effort, including contributions from everyone to get some wins. I have challenged each athlete in the group to have a breakout performance for the team, so it will be interesting to see who that might be."
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