SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State swimming and diving split with cross-town rival Drury Friday night here, defeating the Drury women's team, 157-80, and coming up short versus its men's team, 136-107.
 
The meet marked Missouri State's final home meet of the season and an opportunity to recognize the program's 10 senior student-athletes.
 
"It's kind of odd having Senior Day as your second meet of the year with so much left in the season," head coach Dave Collins said. "This was a great opportunity for us to celebrate a group of seniors that has meant a lot to our program… but this is just the start." 
 
"Today's the first time that I realized that we were seniors," Alessia Puleo said. "It was actually kind of hard. It's been four years that completely changed my life honestly." 
 
The MSU women's team was in control throughout the meet, jumping out to a 63-30 lead after the 200 Yard IM and never looking back. As the dual went on, the score became more tilted in the favor of the Bears, and MoState pulled away for its' second straight victory to begin the season. 
 
On the men's side, a back-and-forth affair was served up. After the 200 Yard Freestyle, MSU held the advantage over the Panthers, 32-23. Drury eventually evened the score at 37 apiece and held a narrow 70-61 lead over the Bears after the 100 Yard Freestyle. A first and second place finish by the Panthers in the 200 Yard Breaststroke put Drury ahead with some insurance, 125-101. MoState was unable to overcome this deficit, and the men's team suffered their first defeat of the season.  
 
"I felt like we gave ourselves plenty of chances to come out and win the meet on the men's side," Collins said. "But we just couldn't get our hand on the wall when we needed it. We didn't win a close race. Drury won all the close races." 
 
On the women's side, in the 200 Yard Butterfly, Payton Smith finished first (2:05.31), Mai Ortega Bonilla took second (2:06.75) and Sami Roemer came in third (2:08.33). In the 200 Yard Breaststroke, Puleo snagged first (2:21.51), Yuliya Zubina came in second (2:23.47) and Cabrini Johnson finished fourth (2:24.29).  
 
Other standout events for the women's side included Anna Lucas' first-place finish in the 200 Yard Freestyle (1:52.96), Vera Margula's top finish in the Women 1000 Yard Freestyle (10:36.17), Sami Roemer's first-place finish in the Women 200 Yard IM (2:06.76) and Jordan Wenner's first-place result in the 100 Yard Freestyle (52.18). The win by Wenner marks the first victory for her as a Bear.  
 
"I was looking for my consistency," Margula said. "That's what I usually look up to."  
 
"I really worked hard to get there," Wenner said. "It being the senior meet and having my parents be there really made it special." 
 
In perhaps the most impressive event of the day, the MSU women's team secured the top four sports in the 500 Yard Freestyle, with Lauren Chaney taking first (5:07.58), Lily DeSpain snagging second (5:10.41), Ainsley Jenkins coming in third (5:18.27) and Cabrini Johnson coming in fourth (5:24.09).  
 
In diving, Courtney Stanbury recorded two first-place finishes in both the one-meter (226.50) and three-meter competitions (223.27). These victories were the first career wins for Stanbury.
 
On the men's side, Brunno Suzuki took first in the 200 Yard Freestyle (1:41.49) with Jack Grandy finishing not too far behind in third (1:44.14). The men's team grabbed the top two places in the 1000 Yard Freestyle, with Dylan Moffatt finishing first (9:40.41) and Aiden Dunn snagging second (9:43.57).  
 
Overall, the MSU men captured second in five swimming events, with Moffatt (500 Yard Freestyle), Alex Boutin (200 Yard Backstroke), Suzuki (100 Yard Freestyle), AJ Huskey (200 Yard Butterfly) and Dunn (1000 Yard Freestyle) all earning the silver medal in various events. The men's team also had two relay teams finish in second.  
 
"I need to definitely work on my back-half speed," Huskey said. "That's where that guy ran me down, but I swim a great race for where I'm at now. There's a lot to work on obviously and things to improve on as the season continues."  
 
"A lot of training is going to go into the next five months, and hopefully conference championship will come out of it," Jonathan Hill added. 
 
In men's diving, MSU's Storm Opdahl took second in the three-meter competition, (306.37), and Logan Schelfaut came in second in the one-meter competition (287.77).  
 
Up next, MoState swimming and diving travels to Carbondale, Ill. for the two-day Missouri Valley Conference showcase, which runs Oct. 21-22.