ST. PETERS, Mo. - The Missouri State swimming & diving teams opened the 2023-24 season by splitting duals against Lindenwood on Friday. The women's team took home the win over the Lions 170-130, while the men lost a close battle that went down to the wire, 153-147.

"It was good to finally see our athletes in a competition setting," head coach Dave Collins said. 

In diving, freshman Maggie Arceneaux won both the 1-meter (224.7) and 3-meter (234.65) dives in her first career collegiate meet, joining Culberson and Hervey as freshmen to do so.

Arceneaux, who is from the St. Louis area not far from St. Peters, had strong support from spectators in the stands.

The men's divers saw a pair of second-place finishers on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Sophomore Logan Schelfaut took the runner-up spot in the 1-meter dive with a score of 261.75. In the 3-meter dive, sophomore Storm Opdahl was second with a score of 299.15

The meet began with the swimming portion where the Missouri State women showed out and made a statement in the opening event in the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Caitlyn Friebe, senior Cabrini Johnson, senior Samantha Roemer and senior Jordan Wenner took first with a time of 1:46.06, beating out Lindenwood's quartet by three-hundreds of a second.

The Bears also took third in the event with senior Kelly Sego, sophomore Lana Janson, junior Payton Smith and senior Anna Lucas.

The Missouri State men took a close second in the 200-yard medley relay, coming in with a time of 1:31.60 with senior Robert Hill, sophomore Luigi Maciel da Silva, sophomore Chris Bedsole and sophomore Lucas Chadwell.

A pair of newcomers dominated the women's 1,000-yard freestyle with freshman Claire Culberson winning her first event as a Bear (10:32.67) and freshman Lindsey Hervey taking second right behind her (10:38.86). Evie Kolb, another freshman, finished fifth (10:50.88). 

"This first meet was so exciting and so much fun," Culberson said. "Swimming for this team and with these people makes it so easy to want to go out and do my very best for them. Being able to win and score as many points as I possibly can is just a way for me to show how much this team means to me already."

Senior Dylan Moffatt took the win on the men's side of the 1,000-yard freestyle (1:38.62), beating out the field by eight seconds. He also won the 500-yard freestyle later in the day (4:34.77). 

"Kicking off the season with two wins goes to show the offseason training has been there," Moffatt said. "It felt great to race again and it's a reminder that hard work pays off. This keeps me motivated looking ahead to the rest of the season."

Senior Anna Lucas followed up her first career win in the 200-yard freestyle against Lindenwood last year with a second-place result in the event this year (1:55.28). The Missouri State men swept the 200-yard freestyle with all four of its swimmers placing in the top four. 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). 

The women had four finishers in the top five in the 100-yard backstroke with freshman Hadleigh Henslee (58.37), Sego (58.40), Friebe (59.16) and freshman Oliva Sala (1:00.71) finishing second through fifth respectively.

Hill continued his winning ways after the 200-yard medley relay by taking the top spot in the men's 100-yard backstroke (49.22). He also won the 200-yard backstroke (1:50.20) with sophomore Alex Boutin finishing second (1:51.77).

"It was great to see some strong times for myself and my teammates, especially this early on in the season," Hill said. "I think my favorite part was the determination from the guys after our races to improve on these times and understanding what can benefit our races as we progress through the season."

It was a full podium for the women in the 200-yard butterfly. Smith took the victory with a time of 2:08.09. Senior Lily DeSpain finished second at 2:08.75 and Marina Ortega Bonilla got third (2:10.73). Senior AJ Huskey got the job done in the men's 200-yard butterfly with a winning time of 1:52.39.

Wenner won a photo finish against Lindenwood's Kornelia Buszka in the women's 500-yard freestyle (24.49) by just two-hundredths of a second.

In the men's 200-yard breaststroke, sophomore Brayden Goeldner joined his fellow Bears in the win column with a time of 2:04.30. Suzuki-Tomiyama finished second (2:06.50).

Hervey continued to dazzle in her Bears debut with another win in the 500-yard freestyle (5:12.06) for her first career individual event win. 

"Being able to travel with the Bears for the first time was so much fun," Hervey said. "Being able to kick off the season right with a good 500 free has prepared me for an exciting rest of the season of racing."

A few familiar faces finished in the top two in the women's 100-yard butterfly. Roemer finished first (56.28) and Ortega Bonilla ended up second (58.32). The two almost immediately followed that up with finishes of first (2:08.11) and third (2:10.13) respectively in the 200-yard IM. After a couple of second-place finishes, Suzuki-Tomiyama got himself a win in the men's 200-yard IM (1:53.32). 

"Today's results give us a starting point and some feedback that we can apply in training moving forward," Collins said. "We will need to have a good week of training leading into our meet against SIU next week." 

Missouri State swimming & diving will return to Springfield for its home opener on Friday, October 13 when it hosts Missouri Valley Conference opponent Southern Illinois in a two-day meet at Hammons Student Center Pool.