LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving team concluded the first day of the Kansas Double Dual by setting multiple personal records and claiming several events on Friday, Oct. 21.

At the end of the first day, the MSU men's team leads North Dakota 130-55 while the women's squad trails Kansas 136-49 and North Dakota 107-78.

The MSU men kicked off the meet with a bang, taking first, third and fourth-place in the 200-yard medley relay. Thomas Heye, Phillip Willett, Artur Osvath and Samuel Senn were the winners, swimming the relay in a time of 1:32.63. Osvath and Heye were top performers for the Bears on the opening day, each scoring wins for the Bears.

The Missouri State men finished 1-2-3 in the 100yd breast, 200yd fly and the 200yd IM. Osvath claimed both the 100yd breast (55.90) and the 200yd IM (1:50.40) while junior Kacper Cwiek clinched the 200yd fly in a time of 1:54.79. Conner Ripp and Ethan Bresette finished second and third in the event, scoring big points for the men's squad.  

Freshman Thomas Heye had a big day for the Bears, finishing first in the 100yd back in 52.07 seconds. Bryce Blattner followed Heye in the event, finishing second with a time of 52.35. In another event controlled by Bear swimmers, sophomore Minki Kang dominated the men's 1000yd freestyle (9:25.39) while Antonio Thomas and Brandon Weissman finished third and fourth.

Sophomore Nicholas Theunissen improved his personal record in the 100yd breaststroke, swimming a time of 56.78 and beating his previous record by nearly two seconds.

The women's team started off the day placing second in the 200yd medley relay. Sarah Allegri, Anna Bump, Sydney Zupan and Loretta Stelnick combined their efforts to record a time of 1:47.11 in the event. Day one for the women was highlighted by performance from Allegri and Zupan.

Allegri, a freshman, swam a time of 57.29 in the 100yd back to earn her first individual victory of the season and her collegiate career. In the 200yd free, Zupan placed second, finishing exactly two seconds behind Jenny Nusbaum of Kansas.

Freshman Vikte Labanauskaite and sophomore Brianna McCullough swam in their first 1000yd freestyle of the season, placing fourth and sixth in the event with McCullough setting a new personal record (10:50.31).

Alexis Skiniotes saw her first action of the season, placing third in the women's 1-meter diving with 219 points. Freshman diver McClay Hartsfield improved his personal record, scoring 264.85 points in the men's 3-meter diving.

Zupan, Stelnicki, McCullough and Brooke Dreiling rounded out the day's action with a third-place finish in the 800yd free relay. On the men's side, the Bears claimed the first and second spots in the 800yd free relay. Cwiek, Michael Mollak, Brenden Bolman and Will Brand teamed up for a victory in the event with a time of 6:52.80 while the Bear's B relay team finished in 6:58.76.M

The Bears return to the pool tomorrow at 12 p.m. at Robinson Natatorium in Lawrence, Kan. For more information on the Missouri State men's and women's swimming and diving team visit www.missouristatebears.com or Twitter (MoStateSwim).