Bears Swimming & Diving Hosts SIU in Home Opener

Friday, October 13

Springfield

4:00 p.m.

Missouri State University

Southern Illinois

Bears Swimming & Diving Hosts SIU in Home Opener

October 11, 2023 | Swimming and Diving

Meet Mobile

Missouri State vs. Southern Illinois
Dates	Friday, Oct. 13 - 4:00 p.m. CT \| Saturday, Oct. 14 - 10:00 a.m CT
Location	Springfield, Missouri
Live Results	Meet Mobile
Site	Hammons Student Center Pool
Missouri State	Twitter \| Instagram \| Facebook

SPRINGFIELD - Following its season opener last Friday against Lindenwood, Missouri State swimming & diving hosts MVC rival Southern Illinois to Hammons Student Center Pool for a two-day dual meet starting on Friday, October 13 at 4:00 p.m. and concluding Saturday, October 14 at 10:00 a.m.

Parking and Admission
Admission is free at Missouri State swimming & diving home meets.
Due to a large conference being held at Great Southern Bank Arena, fans are encouraged to arrive early for home athletic events scheduled on Oct. 13 and 14. Fans are also encouraged to utilize Lot 20, south of Allison South Stadium, or one of the two campus parking garages due to a high demand for parking on those dates.

Series History
Missouri State men's swimming & diving holds a 20-13 record in one of the more regular matchups for the Bears. The women's team is an even 13-13 against the Salukis.

Bears Splashes (Women)

Missouri State women's swimming & diving is coming off a strong showing in the season opener against Lindenwood last Friday where the Bears took the win 170-130.

The team started the season with a win in the 200-yard medley relay with freshman Caitlyn Friebe, senior Cabrini Johnson, senior Samantha Roemer and senior Jordan Wenner (1:46.06).

Wenner won the 500-yard freestyle by just two-hundredths of a second (24.49).

A handful of freshmen won their first career collegiate events last week. Maggie Arceneaux swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives against Lindenwood.

Freshmen Claire Culberson and Lindsey Hervey finished first (10:32.67) and second (10:38.86) in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Freshman Evie Kolb took fifth in the event (10:50.88).

Hervey grabbed her first career individual win in the 500-yard freestyle (5:12.06).

The women took the top three spots in the 200-yard butterfly with junior Payton Smith (2:08.09) winning, senior Lily DeSpain finishing second (2:08.75) and senior Marina Ortega Bonilla earning third (2:10.73).

Senior Samantha Roemer won back-to-back events against Lindenwood, taking first in the 100-yard butterfly (56.28) and the 200-yard IM (2:08.11).

Bears Splashes (Men)

Missouri State men's swimming & diving fell just short against the Lindenwood Lions last week in a 153-147 loss.

Sophomores Logan Schelfaut and Storm Opdahl each took runner-up scores in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives respectively.

Senior Dylan Moffatt is fresh off a pair of wins against Lindenwood in the 1,000-yard freestyle (1:38.62) and the 500-yard freestyle later in the day (4:34.77).

The men took the top four spots in the 200-yard freestyle last week. Junior Reese Hodgins took the gold (1:40.74), followed by Brunno Suzuki-Tomiyama (1:41.93), sophomore George Holesinger (1:42.34) and sophomore Jack Grandy (1:43.17).

Senior Robert Hill is also coming off a two-win day last Friday when he took first in the 100-yard backstroke (49.22) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:50.20).

Senior AJ Huskey took the winning time in the men's 200-yard butterfly against the Lions (1:52.39).

Sophomore Brayden Goeldner won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:04.30) and junior Brunno Suzuki-Tomiyama finished second (2:06.50). Suzuki-Tomiyama won the 200-yard IM (1:53.32).

Scouting the Salukis

Southern Illinois swimming & diving also started its season last Friday when it hosted McKendree for a dual meet. The women's team won 217-81 while the men lost to the Bearcats 160.5-137.5.

The women also started their season with a win in the 200-yard medley relay (1:44.34). The men did the same with a winning time of 1:30.92.

Karen Rodriguez Cardenas (1:52.82) and Beatrize Padron Salazar (1:52.86) had a close 1-2 finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Padron Salazar did win the 100-yard butterfly (56.39).

The Salukis had the top three finishers in the women's 100-yard backstroke with Celia Pulido owning the winning time at 54.81. The women also had the top four finishers in the 100-yard breaststroke with reigning MVC Freshman of the Year Olivia Herron winning over Ali Robertson by just one-hundredth of a second.

Herron also led a quadrant of Salukis to the top of the board in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.02) and the 200-yard IM (2:05.33).

Southern Illinois had the top three scores in both the men's and women's 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Farida Moussa won both events for the women and Lee Haywood won for the men.

They also owned the top three in the women's 200-yard backstroke with Pulido again coming out on top with the only time under two minutes (1:59.21).

Southern Illinois finished fifth in the MVC Championship last season and was picked to finish fourth in the 2023-24 MVC Preseason Poll.

Order of Events

Day 1
Swimming Events
200 Free Relay
200 IM
500 FR
100 BR
200 BK
100 FR
200 Fly
400 Medley Relay

Diving Events
Women's 1-Meter
Men's 3-Meter

Day 2
Swimming Events
200 Medley Relay
1,000 FR
50 FR
100 BK
200 BR
100 Fly
200 FR
400 IM
400 Free Relay

Diving Events
Women's 3-meter
Men's 1-meter

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