SPRINGFIELD – Several members of the Missouri State swimming and diving team took full advantage of being back in the water, as the Swim Bears posted impressive marks while splitting with crosstown foe Drury at Breech Pool on Saturday.
 
The women looked impressive in their opening meet of the season with a decisive 174-124 victory over the Panthers. On the men's side, Drury notched a 207-88 win over the Bears.
 
"It felt great to be able to watch our kids race," Missouri State head coach Dave Collins said. "We have put in a lot of working training and we saw some really nice things today. For our women racing for the first time in ten and a half months, it was nice to see them back at it and they had some really nice performances. This meet will give us something to work off of as we prepare for our upcoming races. We will evaluate everything and make some adjustments in the future, but it was just nice to see everyone race."
 
Libby Howell and Anna Miller highlighted the meet as both set pool records during the event. Howell set her pool record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.20. The mark was also a new school record and personal best for Howell. Miller swam a 49.81 in the 100-yard freestyle to set her pool record mark.
 
In addition to winning the 200-free Howell won the 500-free while narrowly missing out on first in the 200-butterfly as she was defeated by three-one hundredths of a second. Miller also won the 50-yard freestyle and recorded a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
 
Other individual women's highlights included sweeping the 100-yard breaststroke with Yuliya Zubina blowing away the field to win with a time of 1:03.26.  In addition to Howell and Miller, numerous Bears recorded second-place finishes, including Grace Beahan (500-free), Sam Hietpass (1000-free), Kellie Fischer (100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke), Jordan Wenner (100-free), Zubina (200-yard breaststroke) and Sami Roemer (200-yard IM).
 
The women's 200-free relay squad of Zubina, Howell and Miller took won their event with a time of 1:33.27, as Zubina swam both the first and second legs of the race.
 
On the men's side, Michael Hampel and Dylan Moffatt both recorded individual wins. Hampel took first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:06.79 while Moffatt won his first collegiate race after swimming a 9:27.88 in the 1000-free.
 
Pawel Krawczyk also turned in solid performances, recording one second-place finish and a pair of third-place finishes. Krawcyzk narrowly missed out on winning the 500-free as he was just .11 seconds off of Drury's Lucas Lima.
 
Jimmy Doromal garnered a runner-up finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:08.8, while Robbie Hill recorded a pair of third-place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes.
 
The Bears were dominant in diving action at the Hammons Student Center as the women swept both events and the men's posted impressive individual scores.
 
"I am extremely pleased with the performance of our divers today and the best is yet to come," Diving Coach Jim Huelskamp said.
 
Ashley Yarbrough won both the women's one-meter and three-meter dives. The Ballwin, Mo., product also had qualifying marks on both boards.
 
Following Yarbrough in the women's one-meter dive was Dayana Popa in second and Adrianna Avila in third. In the women's three-meter dive, Avila recorded a second-place finish while Popa finished in third.
 
MSU took the top-two spots in the Men's one-meter dive with Michael Claunch winning the event and John David Spence finishing in second.
 
The Swim Bears will be back in action Jan. 22-23, as they travel to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame.