Nov. 21, 2014

Results | Follow @MoStateSwim

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Missouri State Bears swimming and diving team finished its first day of events at the Louisville Invitational with both the men's and women's squads sitting in third on Friday, Nov. 21, at Ralph Wright Natatorium.

Junior women's swimmer Dora Kiss turned in one of the top performances for the Bears, breaking the previous-school record she held in the 500 free in the prelims by two seconds, then placing third and finishing faster by one-tenth of a second in the finals with a time of 4:49.13.

That effort was among many the Bears thrived off of for either personal or season bests Friday.

In the 500 free, Suzanne Van Rensburg (4:59.95) and Heather Snyder (4:59.88) each had season-best times in the B- and C-Finals, respectively, while Shawna Elsey, Carly Wright and Emma Metz also topped their best marks of the 2014-15 season. Freshman Sydney Zupan swam a personal-best time (4:58.13) in the B-Final for the Bears.

Lauren Pavel's 2:06.11 in the 200 IM was her top time of the year in the event and qualified her for the A-Final. In the B-Final, junior Ibby Simcox broke her top-career time in the 200 IM (2:06.33), while Briana Horozewski and CeCe Etter set their best times of the 2014-15 season in the same heat. Emily Chesser had a season-low time in the prelims (2:08.29) and in the D-Final, Rebecca Amparano and Emma Wall swam their best times of the year.

Kate Gately, Megan Holthoff and Anna Bump had solid performances for MSU in the 50 free. Gately placed fifth in the A-Final after swimming a 23.32 in the prelims for her top time of the season. Holhoff set a personal-best time in the prelims (23.76) before finishing seventh in the A-Final. Bump swam a career-best 23.90 in the prelims, while Shannon Myer and Lauren Williams had season low times as well in the event.

The women's diving squad competed in 1-meter diving on the first day of the Invite and was led by Nina Privitera, who finished with an MSU-high 212.85 points.

The Bears' men's swimming and team had two swimmers place at the top of their respective events on Friday.

Junior Miguel Davila finished the 500 free (4:24.25) in his fastest time of the season, earning him a first-place finish while also hitting a B standard in the event.

After earning the top time in the 200 IM prelims, MSU's Paul Le finished with a B standard time of 1:46.53 in the final, but fell to teammate Uvis Kalnins, who had his best time of the year and narrowly touched the wall before Le in a time of 1:46.25 for first place.

Like the women's team, the MSU men also had multiple season-best performances.

Brandon Weissman and Caleb Schuermann each swam their quickest times of the year in the 500 free, while freshman Ethan Bresette earned a B-Finals berth with a career-best 4:34.59 in the prelims.

Competing in the 200 IM, freshman Christopher Heye swam a career-best 1:54.69 in the C-final, while Aaron Dennis had his fastest 200 IM swim of the year. Isaac McKnight (21.03) and Will Brand (21.38) had season-best times in the 50 free, as did Uldis Tazans (21.72). The 200 free relay squad of Le, Kalnins, Brand and McKnight set the 2014-15 top mark for the team in a time of 1:21.22.

In 3-meter diving on the men's side, Garrett Nevels earned runner-up honors with 331 points - six shy of the first-place finisher. Elijah Swaim was also one of the eight divers to make the A-finals, ending with 257.50 points and placing seventh.

Both the Bears' men's and women's swimming and diving teams are in third place after the first day of action. On the men's side, the Bears' 296.5 points trail Louisville (731) and Connecticut (311), while they sit ahead of Southern Illinois (278.5) and Western Kentucky (217). Louisville also sits on top for the women with 545 points, followed by Western Kentucky (397), Missouri State (287), Connecticut (286) and Southern Illinois (228).

The Louisville Invitational continues for the second day of the three-day meet on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 9 a.m. CST. Check out all the latest news and information on the Bears swimming and diving team at MissouriStateBears.com and follow @MoStateSwim.

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