Day One Results
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Missouri State women's swimming and diving team kicked off the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Championship with a bang and clinched both the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays, Wednesday evening at the University of Iowa Recreation/Wellness Center Natatorium.
 
After day one, MSU leads the pack with 80 points while UNI, Southern Illinois and Indiana State each boast 64 points and sit in a three-way tie for second place. Illinois State (56) follows the trio in fifth, followed by Little Rock (52), Evansville (48) and Valley newcomer Valparaiso (44).
 
"We are off to a great start after day one," head coach Dave Collins said. "We had some big swims and a lot of full team energy tonight that we will need to carry over to tomorrow's prelims session."
 
The Bears, who entered the 200 medley relay as the No. 2 seed, defended their conference title from a year ago as Sarah Allegri, Vikte Labanauskaite, Sydney Zupan and Anna Miller combined for a season-best time of 1:40.56. The crew trailed by .11 seconds at the end of the first split, but quickly gained ground and paced the pack the rest of the way through the event.
 
"It was exciting to get the meet started with two relay wins tonight," Zupan said. "All the Bears who swam tonight looked strong in the water, which is a testament to our hard work this season. We are all looking forward to keeping the momentum going tomorrow."
 
MSU struck gold in the night's other event as Taylor Beadle, Zupan, Loretta Stelnicki and Libby Howell set a program record in the 800 free relay – an event that the Bears haven't won at the conference meet since the 2011 season. The quartet dropped an impressive 9.45 seconds off its fastest time of the season and worked together for a 7:17.04 finish in the event. MSU blew away the competition and finished the event over five seconds faster than the runner-up Salukis.
 
"Sydney was phenomenal tonight, doubling up with the fastest fly split and the fastest 200 split in the meet," Collins added. "Having freshmen anchor both winning relays was really fun to see and I am really proud of how they handled such a high-stress situation."
 
MVC Championship Standings

1. Missouri State – 80
2. Northern Iowa – 64

2.    Indiana State – 64
2.    Southern Illinois – 64

5. Illinois State – 56
6. Little Rock – 52
7. Evansville – 48
8. Valparaiso – 44

 
Coming Up Next
The Bears return to the pool tomorrow morning for an 11 a.m. prelims session, followed by Thursday's finals session at 6 p.m. Live results will be available for both sessions and the night's finals session will be live streamed. For all the latest information on the Missouri State swimming and diving team, visit missouristatebears.com or follow @MoStateSwim on Twitter.