Oct. 16, 2015
Complete Results | Follow @MoStateSwim
SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving teams took down the Drury Panthers convincingly by the scores of 135-87 and 150-87, respectively, in the 'Duel in the Pool' at Hammons Student Center Friday, Oct. 16.
The Bears won 17 of the 26 events with five Missouri State swimmers earning multiple-race victories.
"I feel really happy because it was big day for us," senior Dora Kiss said. "I feel like Drury is always challenging and we had to step up, so I'm happy with the results."
Kiss led the MSU women's team by winning all three of the individual events she competed in. She earned season-bests in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.46) and the 500 free (4:59.08) while also finishing first in the 1000 free with a time of 10 minutes, 23.34 seconds.
Also earning multiple victories on the women's side was freshman Josie Pearson. She placed first with a personal-best 2:07.33 in the 200 butterfly, won the 200 individual medley (2:06.78) and was the third leg of the first-place 400 medley relay squad that included Sydney Zupan, Lauren Pavel and Hope Ernhart.
Senior Uvis Kalnins and freshmen Minki Kang and Artur Osvath won two races apiece for the Bears' men's team.
Kalnins placed first in both the 200 backstroke (1:50.41) and the 200 free (1:39.37). Kang took both the 1000 free (9:33.79) and 500 free (4:38.16), while Osvath earned season-bests with a 1:53.12 finish in the 200 IM and a time of 2:02.93 in the 200 breaststroke. He also was part of a 400 medley relay squad along with Kalnins, Isaac Springer and Will Brand that set the team's best time of the year in the 400 medley relay (3:21.62).
"I've really enjoyed that we've had a meet every weekend," Osvath said. "I feel really good on this team because I didn't have a team like this in Hungary, so I'm enjoying (the experience)."
The MSU swim teams owned the 200-yard races, earning a majority of the top-five finishes in the 200 free, 200 IM, 200 fly and 200 back.
The Bears' men's squad had the top four finishers in all four of the races, while the women's team took down the Panthers by getting four in the top five in all the 200-yard races besides the 200 breast.
"It's awesome for the town of Springfield," Bears head coach Dave Collins said of the crosstown series. "We're about eight blocks apart, we recruit a lot of the same athletes and we're both very evenly matched. You look at the history (of the series) and they're always close meets. I swam for (Drury coach) Brian (Reynolds) and went to Drury and there's just a lot of connections there, but we're very competitive."
Junior Nina Privitera led the Missouri State diving duo by getting first place behind a personal-best 253.87 points on the 1-meter board and also placed second in 3-meter diving with 252.45 points. Junior Alexis Skiniotes placed third on both boards, narrowly missing out on the top score of her career in 3-meter diving by less than a point.
"I would say today was a pretty good reflection on the practices we've had lately," Privitera said. "Our approach at practice, we've kind of come in and had a better mindset as to how to go about things. We come in more focused and just ready to get our workouts done and I think that's shown up with our better results."
Picking up victories for the Bears in the 'Duel in the Pool" were sophomores Sydney Zupan and Ethan Bresette, as well as junior Lauren Pavel.
On the women's side, freshmen Loretta Stelnicki and Hope Ernhart each had two top-three finishes in the 50 and 100 free. Heather Snyder, Rebecca Amparano, Emily Chesser, Quincy Howell and Olivia Gean all placed in the top three of a race. Seven others - Brianna McCullough, Emma Metz, Briana Horozewski, Ibby Simcox, Hanna Flanagan, CeCe Etter and Kaylee Larson - ended up with finishes in the top-five among swimmers in their respective races.
Sophomore Ethan Bresette earned a victory for the men's team with a time of 1:53.49 in the 200 fly while he also placed third in the 200 IM (1:55.02) and the 500 free (4:49.80).
Bears to have multiple top-five showings includes Brandon Weissman, Kevin Douglas, Bryce Blattner, Will Brand, Jack Snow, Kacper Cwiek and Nicholas Theunissen.
Christopher Heye swam a season-best 2:06.31 in the 200 breast for runner-up, Brenden Bolman swam a personal-best 1:56.14 for third in the 200 back, Michael Mollak got third in the 200 free (1:46.42) and Isaac Springer also placed third in the 200 breast (2:06.54). Canaan Canaan Campbell and Will Frisbie also had top-five efforts for MSU.
"We've got a couple more meets and then winter nationals in December which then we'll change gears into long course," Collins said. "We've still got to dust off the cobwebs, we're making a lot of mistakes, but we're making improvements week to week too. We just need a couple good weeks of training."
Missouri State hosts its annual alumni/intrasquad meet at Hammons Student Center at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17. The Bears follow that with a trip to Lawrence, Kansas, for the Kansas Double Dual beginning on Friday, Oct. 23.
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