Jan. 16, 2016
Results | Follow @MoStateSwim
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Missouri State won 23 of 28 events en route to a men's and women's swimming and diving dual sweep over Truman State, 198-64 and 148-114, respectively, at the Truman Natatorium Saturday, Jan. 16.
"Today's meet was mainly about racing and working to rehearse good details under pretty heavy fatigue from winter training," Bears head coach Dave Collins said. "Traditionally, the times in mid-January are not too impressive, but it is important to race during this time.
"I felt like the effort was good and we have a lot to build on the last few weeks before we begin to taper for the championship meets."
The MSU women's team picked up a win in the 400-yard medley relay to start and eventually had a first-place finisher in 10 of 14 events. The Bears' 'A' relay of Sydney Zupan, Lauren Pavel, Dora Kiss and Hope Ernhart finished first in a time of 3 minutes, 54.82 seconds. The Bears' 'B' relay of Emily Chesser, Anna Bump, Josie Pearson and Loretta Stelnicki followed for third in 4:01.00.
Heather Snyder (500 free), Rebecca Amparano (200 free), Pavel (100 breast), Kiss (200 fly), Stelnicki (50 free), Briana Horozewski (200 back), Ibby Simcox (500 free) and Pearson (200 IM) all won events for the Bears, with Pavel making a clean sweep in her races by also finishing with the fastest time in the 200 breast.
The Bears completed the dual with three-runner up finishes, which included Andi Burroughs in the 200 breast (2:28.49), Amparano in the 100 fly (58.17) and Stelnicki in the 100 free (52.86) - who had one of her top collegiate showings to date as a freshman.
"I felt like Loretta was especially good today," Collins said. "Her sprinting ability continues to develop with each training cycle and she will have a very good MVC Championship!"
Several other Bears swimmers scored points on the women's side by placing in the top five in at least one event including Zupan, Ernhart, Chesser, Brianna McCullough, Emma Metz, Emma Wall, Hanna Flanagan, Olivia Gean, CeCe Etter and Shawna Elsey.
"I thought the women's team did a really good job of attacking their races after a long week of hard practices," Stelnicki said. "Truman (State) was good competition and when it came close at the end, we all got behind each other and raced well."
The Missouri State men's team won all but one of its races that it competed in. MSU jumped out to a solid start by taking the top three spots in the 400 medley relay, then went 1-2-3 in the 200 free relay to close out the dual
Kevin Douglas (1000 free), Kacper Cwiek (200 free), Brenden Bolman (100 back), Isaac Springer (100 breast), Artur Osvath (200 fly), Nicholas Theunissen (200 back), Bryce Blattner (500 free) and Will Frisbie (200 IM) all won at least one race Saturday.
Three Bears eventually took first place in two events including Bolman (47.05) in the 100 free, Springer in the (200 breast) and Osvath in the 100 fly (50.05). Osvath, a freshman from Budapest, Hungary, took first in his opening three events before swimming the second fastest opening leg of the 200 free relay behind MSU teammate Uvis Kalnins.
"Artur continues to impress me," Collins said. "He is really beginning to develop in some additional events that will make him an even more valuable swimmer moving forward."
Several MSU men's swimmers scored points for the Bears. Kalnins, Minki Kang, Miguel Davila, Brandon Weissman, Christopher Heye, Michael Mollak, Ethan Bresette, Will Brand, Uldis Tazans, Canaan Campbell, Will Brand and Preston Selby all earned top-five showings.
Along with the squad's 13 event victories, MSU also wrapped up runner-up finishes in 11 events which included Frisbie's 53.26 finish in the 100 back.
"We had a very productive meet," Frisbie said. "I thought we did a good job of adjusting back into our normal training schedule with school, coming off of our training trip. We had a lot of good swims this meet that will be great to build off of as we head into the conference meet."
The Bears head into their final two duals of the 2015-16 season this week, with both taking place in Springfield. MSU heads to Breech Pool on the Drury campus with a meeting against the Panthers on Thursday, Jan. 21, then host No. 10/19 Missouri on Senior Day at Hammons Student Center at 12 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23.
"We will need to be much better next week to be able to compete with Drury and Mizzou," Collins said. "Both have talented squads that will push us."
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