CARBONDALE, Ill. – Missouri State opened up day one of the Mid-American Conference Championships with an 800 freestyle relay win and a second place finish in the 200 medley relay Wednesday night at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium.
 
"I'm happy with our start," head coach Dave Collins said. "The guys on the 200 medley brought a lot of energy and the splits were good. We have always taken pride in the 800 free relay. I think you can tell a lot about a team in that event, and we have some good momentum going into tomorrow."
 
Missouri State capped the night with a win in the 800 freestyle relay courtesy of Brunno Suzuki, Arthur Cury, Dylan Moffatt, and Pawel Krawczyk combining to swim a 6:32.80. The win was the third-consecutive for the Bears in the event at the MAC Championships. Following in second place was Miami (Ohio) as the Redhawks registered a time of 6:30.70.
 
The Bears opened up by placing second in the 200 medley relay as the MSU squad of Robbie Hill, Michael Hampel, Cury, and Bruno Guerra put up a season-best time of 1:27.77. It was the fastest 200 medley relay by an MSU squad since the Bears clocked a 1:26.17 at the 2019 MAC Championships. Miami (Ohio) won the event with a pool-record time of 1:26.39.
 
"We were looking forward to getting things started off in that relay," Hampel said. "We knew that one was going to be a tough one for us, coming off a disqualification last year. We were really trying to get our hands on the wall and put some points up on the first night. We always preach every day is 0-0 so coming out tied the first night is exactly what we thought. Its 0-0."
 
At the conclusion of day one Missouri State and Miami (Ohio) are tied atop the leaderboard with 74 points apiece. Championship host Southern Illinois sits in third with 64 points.
 
The MAC Championships will continue tomorrow with preliminary events starting at 10:30 a.m. and the finals beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow's schedule includes the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, 1-meter diving and the 200 freestyle relay.
 
For all the latest information on the Missouri State swimming and diving team, visit missouristatebears.com or follow @MoStateSwim on Twitter.

Team Standings (Through 2 of 20 events)

T1. Missouri State	74
T1. Miami (Ohio)	74
3. Southern Illinois	64
4. Ball State	60
5. Evansville	56
6. Valparaiso	52