Results

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Bringing in four more conference victories, the Missouri State women's swimming and diving team maintained its lead at the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Championship, Friday at the University of Iowa Recreation/Wellness Center Natatorium.
 
"We had another great day today," head coach Dave Collins said. "I am so proud of our group. We need to continue to ride this wave of momentum into tomorrow's final day."
 
Making a phenomenal appearance on day three of the league championship meet, Zupan defended her MVC title in the 100 back and was crowned as the new champion in the 100 fly. The senior started the day winning both preliminary races. The Wildwood, Mo., native returned to the pool for the finals session and crushed the school record in the 100 fly when she clinched gold in a time of 53.65 seconds. Touching the wall first in 54.38 seconds, the senior successfully defended her 2017 title in the 100 back.
 
"Sydney's double win in the fly and back was inspirational," Collins praised. "As our captain, everyone that watcher her daily pursuit of excellence knows she earned those titles."
 
Emma Wall and Anna Miller also made appearances in 100 fly A-Final, and Hanna Flanagan's time in the prelims earned her a spot in the evening's B-Final. Wall would go on to earn the bronze medal with a time of 54.60 seconds and Miller finished seventh overall.
 
Four Bears – Josie Pearson, Haley Allen, Brooke Dreiling and Sarah Wehrmeister – swam their way into the 400 IM finals. Pearson, who led the Bears all season in the event, broke her own school record and earned a silver medal after posting a time of 4:16.91 in the finals. Allen finished eighth overall while Dreiling claimed the B-Final and Wehrmeister finished 14^th.
 
"What a great race from Josie," Collins proclaimed. "She continues to lower the school record and race very tough for us."
 
Capturing her second individual title of the meet, freshman Libby Howell upset Saluki senior Bryn Handley once again and earned gold in the 200 free with a time of 1:48.63. With that time, Howell sits second all-time in the MSU record books. Earlier in the day, Howell, Brianna McCullough and Taylor Beadle all recorded times that qualified for the A-Final. Beadle went on to finish seventh (1:21.42) while McCullough touched the wall eighth (1:51.82).
 
"Libby continues to race extremely tough for a freshman," Collins noted. "I am looking forward to her leading our distance group into a very important mile tomorrow."
 
Three Bears earned 100 breast finals swims in the morning's preliminary races. Monica Blake and Kaylee Larson each made their way into the B-Final while sophomore Vikte Labanauskaite was the lone Bear to represent MSU in the A-Final. Labanauskaite returned to the pool later in the evening and earned a bronze medal in 1:03.52 while Blake and Larson went on to finish fifth and sixth in the session's B-Final.
 
"Vikte put together a good race to give us major points in an event we really needed them in," Collins explained. "She was able to race well in her event, then she turned around and put up a great split on the relay to end the session."
 
The Bears put six swimmers through to the evening's finals 100 back finals sessions as Zupan, Sarah Allegri and Loretta Stelnicki qualified for the A-Final. Senior Hanna Flanagan, along with newcomers Lily van Biljon and Madison Brown each recorded times that landed them in the night's B-Final. Led by Zupan, the Bears swept the top-three finishes in the 100 back. Allegri and Stelnicki rounded out the Bears' top swimmers and finished second and third, respectively.
 
"I'm so proud of how tough the Bears raced tonight," Zupan said. "We were able to move up in several spots throughout the night, and I loved watching everyone get behind and encourage one another. I'm excited to see what we can do on the final day of competition."
 
Freshmen divers Ashley Yarbrough and Dayana Popa made major strides on the 3-meter board. Yarbrough, who has paced the MSU divers all season, finished third in the preliminary rounds with 277.02 points while Popa placed fifth with 234.69. They will make their final appearance in tomorrow's finals session.
 
The Bears remained perfect in relay action as Allegri, Labanauskaite, Wall and Miller combined for a first-place time of 3:41.76 in the 400 medley relay and successfully defended their league title from one year ago. With the relay win, MSU picked up its fourth MVC relay crown of the meet.
 
"I think tonight was a really great one for our team," Collins said. "We had a lot of fantastic wins and ending with first place in the relay was a great way to end the night."
 
MVC Championship Standings

1. Missouri State – 522.5
2. Southern Illinois – 433.5
3. Northern Iowa – 333.5
4. Indiana State – 289
5. Illinois State – 266
6. Little Rock – 238.5
7. Evansville – 168
8. Valparaiso – 88

 
Coming Up Next
Missouri State will close out the 2018 MVC Championship tomorrow beginning with the final prelims session at 11 a.m. All eight teams will reconvene for the final session of the four-day meet at 5 p.m. For all the latest information on the Missouri State swimming and diving team, visit missouristatebears.com or follow @MoStateSwim on Twitter.