Day 3 Recap

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Missouri State swimming & diving team concluded its three-day stay in the Purdue Invitational on Saturday. Both the men's and women's teams held serve from their Day 1 showings as they each finished fourth in their respective meets.

The women scored 351 points to finish fourth out of eight teams and the men secured 380 points to finish fourth out of five teams.

"It's always a great experience to compete in the full championship format to see how our athletes will react," head coach Dave Collins said. "We learned a lot and collected some good data that will guide our training moving into the second half of the season.

Starting the swimming portion in the 1,650-yard freestyle, sophomore Ainsley Jenkins showed endurance and stamina to come away with a seventh-place result out of 21 swimmers. Jenkins swam a 16:59.20 to set a new personal record in the event by over seven seconds. The time is also the best in the event by a Missouri Valley Conference swimmer this season. Fellow sophomore Sophia Coleta finished right behind her in eight with a time of 17:00.69. 

Freshman Evie Kolb also set a new personal marker in the event, bringing home a 17:18.90 time.

Missouri State used the Purdue Invitational to continue to build momentum in the early parts of the season and to see improvement as the season starts to roll. Freshman Caitlyn Friebe made the B final in the 200-yard backstroke and came away with a personal best time of 2:00.64.

A pair of Bears took the top spots in the D finals of the 200 back. Freshman Olivia Sala led the field with a 2:04.45 time followed by fellow freshman Hadleigh Henslee who bested her previous personal best from the prelims by over a second with a time of 2:04.89.

Senior Jordan Wenner also doubled up on beating her personal best in the 100-yard freestyle. Her prelim time of 50.03 was already a new conference best this season, but the Virginia native went ahead and beat her time again with a 49.64, good enough for second in the A final. Sophomore Lana Janson also reset her personal best in the prelim with a 50.69 to finish sixth in the A final.

Senior Lily DeSpain saw a near-four-second improvement from her prelim to her final time in the 200-yard butterfly, jumping to a 2:02.16 tie that saw her win the B final.

To conclude the day for the women, Missouri State once again was strong in the relays. The Bears had Janson, Wenner, senior Anna Lucas and senior Samantha Roemer finish third in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:21.73). 

The Missouri State men's team also had huge finishes in the endurance races at the start of the day. Senior Dylan Moffatt finished third in the A final of the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15.23.88. 

Sophomore Lucas Chadwell joined the handful of women's Bears by beating his personal best in the prelim and then beating it again in the final. Chadwell turned a 44.84 prelim time in the 100-yard freestyle into a new personal record time of 44.77, giving him the best time in the B final.

The men's team did hold on to outscore fellow Mid-American Conference opponent Southern Illinois by 131 points.

"I am encouraged with how we competed, especially on the final day," Collins said. "We have a great group that continues to be committed to our process and makes the most out of every opportunity to represent Missouri State."

Missouri State swimming & diving will return to Hammons Student Center Pool for its next meet when it welcomes the Missouri Tigers to Springfield for a dual meet on Saturday, December 2 for Missouri State's final contest of the calendar year.

Final Women's Scores
1. Purdue University - 1093.5 
2. Northwestern University - 747 
3. University of Illinois - 469 
4. Missouri State University - 351 
5. Marshall University - 306 
6. Southern Illinois University - 251 
7. Illinois State University - 242.5 
8. McKendree University - 152

Final Men's Scores
1. Northwestern University - 1047.5 
2. Purdue University - 886.5 
3. McKendree University - 603 
4. Missouri State University - 380
5. Southern Illinois University - 249


Day 2 Recap

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Missouri State swimming & diving team continued its strong showing on the second day of the Purdue Invitational on Friday. Both the men's and women's teams maintained their positions from the first day as they both sit in fourth in their respective meets.

The Missouri State women continued their strong showing in the relays. The Bears opened the finals session with a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay as freshman Caitlyn Friebe, senior Cabrini Johnson, senior Samantha Roemer and senior Jordan Wenner swam a Missouri Valley Conference-season best 1:40.69. 

That success carried over into the 800-yard freestyle relay at the end of the day as senior Lily DeSpain, senior Anna Lucas, sophomore Lanna Janson and Roemer finished third with another conference-best time of 7:23.99 in Missouri State's first run at the event this season.

Roemer had a standout performance for the Bears. The Iowa native earned an impressive podium finish among a pool of large schools in the 100-yard butterfly (54.29). 

Much like on the first day of the Purdue Invitational on Thursday, Missouri State had a slew of swimmers earn personal best times in events. Senior Marina Ortega Bonilla bested her previous best time in the 400-yard IM coming in at 4:24.24, which would be the fifth-fastest time in the MVC entering the day.

Freshman Evie Kolb was outstanding in her attempt to conquer the 400 IM as she beat her original best time in the prelim only to reset that time in the final with a 4:34.60.

The men's team also had its fair share of personal bests as it did on the first day as well. Freshman Matvei Chesakov led the way with two new best times in the 100-yard butterfly (50.72) and the 100-yard backstroke (50.56). Chesakov broke his 100 fly time in the prelims and used a strong finals run in the 100 back to set the new markers. 

Another freshman, Nadim Elgohary, earned a personal best for the second straight day after setting one in the 50-yard freestyle on Friday. Elgohary beat his previous time in the 100-yard butterfly by three-hundredths of a second (49.33), good enough to place him in the B final. He will look to complete the personal-best sweep of the weekend when he participates in the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday.

Missouri State swimming & diving will conclude the Purdue Invitational with the third and final day on Saturday, November 18. Swim prelims are set to begin at 9:30 a.m. CT with platform dive finals starting at noon. Swim finals will conclude the invitational starting at 5:00. Live swim results can be found here and live diving scores here.

Women's Scores After Day 2
1. Purdue - 752
2. Northwestern - 529.5
3. Illinois - 377
4. Missouri State - 255
5. Marshall - 226
6. Illinois State - 204.5
7. Southern Illinois - 176
8. McKendree - 117

Men's Scores After Day 2
1. Northwestern - 756.5
2. Purdue - 664.5
3. McKendree - 369
4. Missouri State - 300
5. Southern Illinois - 162


Day 1 Recap

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Missouri State swimming & diving team had a solid showing on the first day of the Purdue Invitational on Wednesday, sending a few swimmers to the A finals in a handful of events and breaking some personal best times.

Both the men's and women's teams end the first day of competition in fourth in their respective meets.

The women started the finals session with a strong fifth-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle relay among a 15-entry field. The quartet of senior Anna Lucas, senior Jordan Wenner, freshman Caitlyn Friebe and senior Samantha Roemer set the best time in the event by the Bears this season (1:33.00).

Relays were particularly strong for the Bears, as the women also finished fourth in the 400-yard medley relay in the 22-entry field. Friebe, senior Cabrini Johnson, Roemer and Wenner put down a time of 3:40.62, another team-best this season.

Roemer made the A final in the 200-yard IM and improved on her prelim time with a 2:03.21 to finish seventh.

Friebe beat her previous time in the 50-yard freestyle in both the prelims and the finals. Her prelim time of 23.56 was one-hundredth of a second better than her previous lifetime record and put her in the B final that she subsequently won with a new best of 23.17.

Senior Marina Ortega Bonilla won the C final in the 200-yard IM (2.04.27). Freshman Olivia Sala earned the same result in the D final (2:04.97).

The 50-yard freestyle was an especially strong event for Missouri State with multiple swimmers setting new personal bests. Freshman Makenzie Kurre matched Friebe's performance by setting a personal best on two separate occasions in the 50-yard freestyle as well. She swam a 23.93 in the prelim and followed that up with a 23.81 in the finals. 

The Missouri State women swept the top four spots in the C final of the 500-yard freestyle. Senior Lily DeSpain took the win in the final with a 4:53.42, followed by sophomore Sophia Coleta (4:57.05), junior Lauren Chaney (4:58.20) and sophomore Ainsley Jenkins (5:00.77) rounded out the top four in the race.

The Bears started strong with some new personal markers that were set in the prelims that start early in the day. Freshman Nadim Elgohary broke his personal best in the 50-yard freestyle twice, getting a 21.05 in the prelims and then besting that with a 21.03 in the final.

Senior Dylan Moffatt's prelim time in the 500-yard freestyle earned him a spot in the A final where he finished seventh (4:30.97). The Bears also had three of the top four finishers in the C final of the same event. Sophomore Aiden Dunn won the C final with a time of 4.33.02, followed by junior Reese Hodgins in second (4:33.10) and Sophomore George Holesinger in fourth (4:37.77). Holesinger broke his previous best time in the 500-yard freestyle prelim by over two seconds at 4:35.22.

The second day of the Purdue Invitational will also start at 9:30 a.m. CT with swim prelims. Live swim results can be found here and live diving scores here. 

Women's Score After Day 1
1. Purdue University - 367 
2. Northwestern University - 253 
3. University of Illinois - 183 
4. Missouri State University - 121 
5. Illinois State University - 109 
6. Marshall University - 106 
7. Southern Illinois University - 74 
8. McKendree University - 59

Men's Score After Day 1
1. Northwestern University - 315.5 
2. Purdue University - 263.5 
3. McKendree University - 136 
4. Missouri State University - 121 
5. Southern Illinois University - 97