March 6, 2015

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GENEVA, Ohio - Missouri State had three swimmers win conference titles and its 400 medley relay broke school, pool and Mid-American Conference records to propel the Bears into a slight lead over Eastern Michigan following the third day of the 2015 MAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday, March 6, at the SPIRE Institute.

The Bears' 511.50 points give them a 24-point lead over the Eagles, after falling behind to EMU following the second day of action. Southern Illinois sits in third with 350 points, followed by Buffalo (339), Miami (328), Evansville (110) and Ball State (77).

"I loved our team's effort and energy tonight," Bears head coach Dave Collins said. "They are all giving everything they got and that's all I can ask. I am proud of them and look forward to what we can do tomorrow."

MSU got off to a remarkable start in the opening 400 IM, with five Bears earning spots in the A-final.

Uvis Kalnins defended his conference title in the event by finishing with a school-, pool- and MAC-record time of 3:46.00.

Miguel Davila (3:52.09) and Ethan Bresette (3:55.81) used personal-best times in the 400 IM A-final to claim silver and bronze medals, respectively. Christopher Heye and Brandon Weissman also made podium appearances, with both achieving career marks on Friday for sixth and seventh. Canaan Campbell also set a lifetime best in the B-final (4:00.41).

The Bears' next champion came in the 100 breast, with Isaac Springer breaking the conference record by touching the wall at 53.85. Springer earned consecutive personal-bests in the prelims and A-final to achieve a `B' cut, while also defeating the previous back-to-back 100 breast MAC champion - EMU's Mike Fisher - who claimed third Friday.

The remaining two Bears who raced in the 100 breast - Uldis Tazans and Aaron Dennis - also qualified for the A-final. Both finished with `B' standards as Tazans narrowly missed out on medaling by placing fourth with the top time of his career (54.49), and Dennis earned seventh after his top time of the season in the prelims (54.99).

Paul Le narrowly missed his school record in the 100 back by 0.07 seconds, but still set a pool-record 46.80 to win his second-consecutive title in the event.

Matthew Wilson swam his personal-best time in the prelims (49.45) and eventually placed seventh in the 100 back A-final, the second race for him on the day. Both Preston Selby (49.96) and Jack Snow (50.08) advanced to the B-final for the Bears, with each getting their top times this season in third- and sixth-place finishes, respectively.

The Bears' final record-breaking performance came in the 400 medley relay.

Le, Springer, Vitalii Baryshok and Kalnins teamed up to top the school, pool and conference record and finish in a time of 3:10.56. Their relay broke their previous school and MAC marks set at last season's championships by 0.39 seconds.

Baryshok, an MSU senior, led the way with a runner-up finish in the A-final (47.86). In a tight race for medal position, Baryshok fell to SIU's Joao Facciotti by 0.51 seconds, but touched in just ahead of bronze-medalist Oliver Patrouch of Buffalo by 0.06 seconds and fourth-place finisher Saluki Lucas Aquino by 0.12 seconds. MSU's Wilson earned seventh in the A-final after his top time of 2014-15 in the prelims (48.92), while Selby took top honors in the B-final (49.12)

Kacper Cwiek and Isaac McKnight both made it on to the podium for the Bears in the 200 free. Cwiek placed fifth in a `B' standard 1:37.24 in the A-final, with McKnight finishing eighth after a personal-best 1:37.50 in the prelims. MSU's Will Brand qualified for the B-final after the top time of his career in the prelims (1:39.53) and eventually placed third in the consolation final.

MSU senior diver Garrett Nevels qualified with 331.65 points in 3-meter prelims for Saturday evening's 1-8 finals. He will be the lone bear, with the Eagles qualifying four divers into the 3-meter finals event.

"This has been a long meet, but I am proud of the freshmen and sophomores who stepped up today," junior Isaac Springer said. "We still have a lot of work left to do, so it's time to rest and reset and get ready for tomorrow."

In all, MSU won four of the six events completed on the third day of the 2015 MAC Championships. Twelve `B' cuts were achieved by the Bears, while three conference-meet, three-pool and two-school records were topped by MSU.

"We will need to be perfect tomorrow both in the prelims and the finals if we want to have a chance," Collins said. "We will be leaning hard on our senior class to carry us."

The final day of the 2015 MAC Championships begin at 10 a.m. CST Saturday, March 7, with 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly prelims. Finals are set to start at approximately 4 p.m. with the 1650 free finals, and the championship will conclude with the 400 free relay.

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