Feb. 19, 2016
Results | MVC Championship Central | Follow @MoStateSwim
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Three individual titles and a victory in the 400-yard medley relay on Friday, Feb. 19, propelled the Missouri State women's swimming and diving team into first place at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.
The Bears took the lead after the third day of action and head into the last day of competition Saturday with a team total 534 points. Southern Illinois (496.50) trails Missouri State by just 37.50 points. Northern Iowa (408) sits in third and is followed by Illinois State (298.50), Evansville (209) and Little Rock (192).
Missouri State opened Friday's finals by taking the top three spots in the 400-yard individual medley.
Rebecca Amparano earned a personal-best and pool-record time of 4 minutes, 18.32 seconds to win the 400 IM. Josie Pearson finished runner-up in 4:20.10 and Briana Horozewski earned a bronze medal behind a season-best 4:20.79.
"The A-finals earn big points, winning races grabs momentum and I thought that we needed that 400 IM 1-2-3 finish," Bears head coach Dave Collins said. "Great times by all three ladies and a new pool record; that really set the tone (for the finals). We talked about (momentum) before the meet started. We had to get momentum, and I think we did a nice job with that and it really started our night."
"It definitely feels great," Amparano said of her 400 IM championship. "I was really nervous, but I knew that I had Josie and Briana behind me and that if I didn't win, one of them would. I knew as long as one of us won, it was good for the team and that's all that mattered."
Both CeCe Etter and Heather Snyder contributed to MSU's point total with season-best marks in the 400 IM B-final. Etter (4:30.57) eventually took ninth overall and Snyder (4:33.56) placed 11th.
The Bears had four swimmers earn points in the 100 butterfly.
Emma Wall earned her first conference championship with a lifetime-best 55.82 finish in the A-final, while Emily Chesser took seventh after earning her top time this season of 57.20 in preliminaries.
"It felt awesome because this was my first (championship) I've won in college," Wall said. "I told myself before I went (to race) that 'I'm going to get a (time) of 55 (seconds),' and when I got it, the first thing I did when I won was look up at my parents and smiled. It was an awesome experience."
MSU's Ibby Simcox took first in the 100 fly B-final for the Bears by finishing in a season-best 57.35. Hanna Flanagan also took sixth in the event in a time of 57.81, just a tenth of a second away from her career mark.
"In the prelims, (coach Collins) gave us a goal of getting in the top eight," Wall said. "Once we got in the finals, (Collins) told us to focus on what place you can finish. I think what we did a good job of was focusing on beating the person on either side of you. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going into tomorrow."
Dora Kiss continued her strong championship campaign, winning the 200 freestyle crown for the first time of her career with a school-record 1:48.38. Hope Ernhart (1:55.30) also placed 13th overall after setting her lifetime best in the prelims.
Lauren Pavel shattered her career mark in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:02.03 finish, falling just .04 seconds away from a first-place showing. Anna Bump made a podium appearance for the Bears by taking seventh in the A-final in a mark of 1:05.31.
Two MSU swimmers earned points in the B-final, with Kaylee Larson taking 12th overall after earning a lifetime-best 1:05.36 in prelims and Olivia Gean (1:06.11) getting 13th.
The Bears closed out the individual events with two swimmers capturing medal-winning performances in the 100 backstroke.
Loretta Stelnicki (55.59) finished runner-up with the top time of her career. Sydney Zupan tied for third and earned a bronze medal after earning a personal-best time of 55.62 in the prelims. Emily Chesser (57.76) rounded out MSU's scoring in the 100 back by finishing in a tie for second in the B-final.
The Bears closed out the third day of the conference championship with the squad's 'A' relay of Zupan, Pavel, Kiss and Stelnicki taking first in the 400 medley relay in a season-best time of 3:43.66.
Several Bears also achieved either season or personal bests throughout the day. Lauren Williams, Quincy Howell, and Andi Burroughs all achieved top times in at least one event Friday. Howell, Brianna McCullough, Shawna Elsey and Moriah Moore all set career-best times in an event apiece on day three of the conference championship.
"We knew it was going to be a close meet before we even got here," Collins said. "Everybody has got to race, everybody has got to do their job, everybody has to move past the race they just had and move on to the next one. Everything is going to come down to tomorrow and we've got to have a good prelims session to get things started.
"We've got to swim well in the morning. The way our kids train and the way we rest our kids, traditionally the third or fourth day of a conference championship has been our strongest. I'm confident in in our kids. We just have to get up in the morning and get into some good places."
The final day of action at the 2016 MVC Championship continues with preliminaries at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium. Finals begin Saturday at approximately 4 p.m., with links to the MVC live stream available on the Missouri State swimming and diving schedule page at missouristatebears.com.
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