Jan. 28, 2016
Schedule | |
SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State men's swimming team closes out its regular season schedule with a trip to Notre Dame for the Shamrock Invitational which begins at 4 p.m. CST Friday, Jan. 29, at Rolfs Aquatic Center.
Among MSU's competition at this year's Shamrock Invitational includes host Notre Dame, Iowa and Grand Canyon. The two-day meet will be scored as a dual between each team and not as a true invitational. The meet takes place Friday and Saturday, with second day action starting at approximately 9 a.m. The Bears are 2-3 all-time in duals against Iowa, 0-3 versus Notre Dame and the Invite will be the first matchup between MSU and Grand Canyon.
Notre Dame is the highest ranked team in the Shamrock field, as the Fighting Irish are 25th in the most recent College Swimming Coaches Association of America/TYR Top 25 Swimming & Diving Poll. Grand Canyon is also receiving votes in the poll.
Live results of the meet will be provided by Notre Dame and the link to them is available on the Missouri State swimming and diving schedule page. The meet can also be followed along with on the Meet Mobile app.
Last Meet Overview
Missouri State's men's and women's swimming and diving teams dropped their final dual of the season on Senior Day to the No. 13/19 Missouri Tigers at Hammons Student Center Saturday, Jan. 23. The Tigers eventually earned a 152-84 victory on the men's side and 188-51 win for the women's team.
Three Bears swimmers nearly missed pool records in victories against Mizzou.
Minki Kang touched the wall in the second-fastest time of his career (9:18.40) in the 1000 freestyle, less than half a second off a pool-record mark, but still good for first place. Artur Osvath also missed a pool record in the 200 butterfly by a tenth of a second with his 1:50.16 finish, while Uvis Kalnins nearly broke a Hammons Student Center mark in the 100 free by missing the record by just .22 seconds, but still earned first in the event with a time of 44.71.
Top finishers for the Bears' women's team included Heather Snyder's two-runner up finishes in the 500 and 1000 freestyle, a second-place showing for Josie Pearson in the 400 IM and Dora Kiss's runner-up effort in the 200 fly.
Bears Highlighting NCAA Division I Top 100 Times
The Missouri State swimming and diving teams have multiple performers that currently hold top 100 times among Division I swimmers. Five men's swimmers have at least one top 100 time while two MSU women's swimmers join them.
Men
Uvis Kalnins (100 breast/27th, 200 breast/84th, 200 IM/4th)
Minki Kang (1000 free/50th, 1650 free/51st)
Artur Osvath (200 breast/18th, 200 IM/72nd, 100 breast/49th, 100 fly/86th)
Isaac Springer (100 breast/87th)
Uldis Tazans (100 breast/93rd)
Women
Dora Kiss (500 free/39th, 200 fly/20th)
Josie Pearson (400 IM/75th)
MSU Record Updates
Four school records and one pool record have already been set by Bears swimmers during the 2015-16 season.
Men's senior Uvis Kalnins broke the only Hammons Student Center pool record of the season to this point in the first dual of the year against Evansville in the 100 breast. Kalnins's 55.78 finish on Oct. 9 took down fellow MSU swimmer Isaac Springer's previous record of 55.89, which was set a season prior.
All four MSU team records set this year occurred during the Purdue Invitational from Nov. 20-22.
Women's senior Dora Kiss set both the 100 fly (54.82) and the 200 fly (1:57.18) school records over the three-day meet. Kiss topped her own 200 fly mark of 1:59.13 she had set at last season's MVC Championship, but also took down current Bears assistant coach Chelsea Dirks-Ham's 55.34 record that had stood since the 2009 MVC Championship.
Freshmen Artur Osvath and Josie Pearson also achieved new school records at the November meet. Osvath's 200 breast time of 1:56.39 took another record away from Springer (1:58.22), while Pearson's time (4:18.08) in the 400 IM became an MSU best over current Bears swimmer Briana Horozewski's previous record (4:20.58) achieved at the 2014 MVC Championships.
Swimmer of the Week Round-up
The Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving teams have combined to be honored with 11 swimmer of the week awards between the two squads.
Seniors Uvis Kalnins and Dora Kiss, junior Lauren Pavel, and freshmen Minki Kang, Artur Osvath and Josie Pearson have all earned weekly honors from their respective conferences.
Minki Kang was honored as the Mid-American Conference Men's Swimmer of the Week for the first time in his career on Tuesday. The freshman earned three first-place finishes, with two coming against a nationally-ranked team, during a three-day span in duals. His weekend included a personal-best time in the 1000 free versus Drury and a sweep in his individual events against No. 13 Missouri.
Pavel was the most recent women's swimmer to be named the Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 19. She won all three events she appeared in during MSU's dual victory versus Truman State on Jan. 16. She was also selected as the MVC recipient on Oct. 27 after her performance at the Kansas Double Dual. The junior was involved with two season-best times and placed an individual high third in the 200 breast. Her 2:21.89 finish in the event took over the top time in the MVC.
Kalnins has been honored by the MAC a team-high three times this season, previously being recognized as the MAC award winner on Jan. 12, Oct. 27 and Oct. 8. The senior's first honor came after the Show-Me Showdown, where he won the 200 IM and finished runner-up in both an individual and relay event. He was rewarded with his second honor after two first-place finishes and two runner-up showings at the Kansas Double Dual from Oct. 23-24. He was most recent men's swimmer to earn the weekly award after a two-win performance versus Texas A&M on Jan. 7.
Both Kiss and Osvath were named Swimmer of the Week by the MVC and MAC, respectively, for the second time this season for their efforts in the Purdue Invitational from Nov. 20-22.
Kiss shattered two school records and helped lead the Bears to a sixth-place team finish at Purdue behind a first-place showing in the 200 fly, fifth place in the 500 free and seventh place in the 100 fly. Along with her MVC award on Nov. 24, Kiss also earned Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 20 for winning all three events she took part in the 'Duel in the Pool' against Drury at Hammons Student Center. She won the 1000 free (10:24.34), 200 free (1:54.46) and the 500 free (4:59.09). All three of those finishes were among top-three times in the MVC, including her season-best times she set in the 200 and 500 free.
Osvath earned four NCAA consideration times and broke a school record in the men's team's appearance at Purdue. He earned the MAC Swimmer of the Week selection on Nov. 24 behind top-four showings in all four of his individual events. He earned his first career weekly honor on Oct. 12 after he gathered five first-place finishes and had a runner-up showing in conference duals against Evansville and Southern Illinois from Oct. 9-10. He won his first collegiate race in the 200 free (1:43.12) and his 2:03.44 finish in the 200 breast gave him the fastest time in the event among all MAC swimmers.
Pearson was recognized as the MVC Swimmer of the Week by finishing with two top-10 finishes at the Show-Me Showdown on Oct. 2. The freshman had one of the top showings for Missouri State at the meet by earning runner-up in the 100 fly (57.49). She earned seventh out of 50 swimmers in the 200 IM (2:07.94), placing behind five members of the host Tigers and a member of the NCAA Division II 2014-15 runner-up Drury squad.
Glancing at the Rankings
After beginning the season at No. 18 in the opening CollegeSwimming.com Rankings, the Bears' men's team has been in and out of the top 50 list. Currently, MSU is ranked 46th among all Division I schools with 758.35 points. The rankings utilize a point system based on NCAA time standards, predicted qualifying times and percentile rankings from the past four seasons.
Both MSU teams also appear in the Division I Mid-Major Rankings.
The men's squad currently sits in 13th with its 758.35 points captured at the Purdue Invitational in November. The women's squad currently sits at 35th with 727.48 points after its performance at the Purdue Invite.
All four teams competing in the Shamrock Invitational this weekend rank within 13 spots of each other in the CollegeSwimming.com Rankings. Grand Canyon (787.07) sits in 33rd, just one place ahead of Iowa (782.45), while host Notre Dame (768.62) is 39th on the Division I men's list.
Bears Earn CSCAA Scholar All-America Team Honors
The College Swimming Coaches Association of America recognized both MSU swimming teams on Wednesday, as the Bears were honored as Scholar All-America Teams for their performance during the 2015 fall semester.
The Bears recorded the fourth-highest team grade-point average among all NCAA Division I men's teams with a cumulative 3.41 GPA. Harvard (3.47), Yale, (3.43) and North Dakota (3.43) were the lone schools with higher GPAs. Meanwhile, MSU's women's team tied with BYU, Lafayette, Ohio State and Texas for the 92nd highest GPA among Division I schools at 3.29.
Men's Swimming and Diving Second in Preseason Poll
The Missouri State men's swimming and diving team was selected to finish second in the Mid-American Conference preseason coaches' poll, announced Thursday, Oct. 1.
Behind a roster that returned 13 letterwinners and six all-conference performers with the addition of seven newcomers, the Bears received two first-place votes and were picked ahead of MAC members Buffalo, Southern Illinois, Miami, Ball State and Evansville. Eastern Michigan received five first-place votes and was selected as the preseason favorite to win the MAC Championship.
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Check out all the latest news and information on the Bears' swimming and diving team at MissouriStateBears.com and follow @MoStateSwim for updates throughout the season.
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