SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State swimming & diving team tracked down a handful of pool records and top conference season times Saturday as the women welcomed Arkansas to Hammons Student Center Pool, while the men competed in an intrasquad meet. The women had a strong showing against an SEC opponent that ultimately won the meet 191-109.

"I'm very pleased with how we performed today," head coach Dave Collins said. "Anytime you get to compete against a really, really good team like Arkansas out of the SEC, it's going to hopefully provide you with a high level of competition. I felt like our girls did a great job of raising the bar and competing today."

The Bears emphasized pacing themselves against the very best of their conference's best competitors. Senior Anna Lucas was the first swimmer for the women to bring home a new Missouri Valley Conference-best time for 2023, finishing the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:51.41.

Some major swimmers stood out for the Bears against very tough competition in the Razorbacks. Freshman Caitlyn Friebe earned her first career collegiate victory with a personal best time of 54.48 in the 100-yard backstroke. The time was the fastest in the event by a Bear this season and was one spot away from being the pool record. Southern Illinois's Celia Pulido set the record with a 54.04 against the Bears in their last meet. 

"It was really fun to get my first win here at home," Friebe said. "I had family and some club teammates up in the stands. It was really competitive and I had a great time racing."

The 200-fly saw a pair of milestones across both teams. Arkansas sophomore Betsy Wizard set a new pool record with a 1:58.96. Not far behind, MSU senior Lily DeSpain set the new MVC season marker with a 2:02.65 time.

The highlight of Missouri State's bout with Arkansas was when the Bears swept the top four spots in the 500-yard freestyle with DeSpain leading the way (4:58.63), followed by Lucas (5:01.38), then sophomore Sophia Coleta (5:03.38) with freshman Lindsey Hervey finishing fourth (5:03.63), marking a personal best.

"I'd probably say that the win was not me swimming," DeSpain said. "It was kind of my team lifting me up because every time I would swim back toward the diving blocks, I would be able to see everybody cheering for me."

Senior Jordan Wenner went on a tear in the next two events. The fifth-year swimmer from Virginia took the team-best time this season in the 50-yard freestyle (23.81) and followed that up with the MVC-best time of 2023 in the 100-yard freestyle immediately after (50.50).

The Bears found the top of the pedestal in the 200-yard backstroke thanks to senior Kelly Sego, who earned her first individual win of the season (2:03.95). Sego beat out six other swimmers, including three Razorbacks.

The Missouri State men's swimming & diving team had a successful intrasquad meet as they looked to improve in the early part of the season. The Bears came away with a handful of new Hammons Student Center Pool records and top times in the Mid-American Conference as well.

"I really liked how the guys got after it today," Collins said. "They didn't have an opponent to swim, but we talked about really racing the rest of the conference today. We came in with a goal of setting some conference-leading times and really getting after it, and I thought they did that."

The men got as good of a start as possible by seeing the new pool record in their first event, the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Robert Hill, sophomore Luigi Maciel da Silva, freshman Nadim Elgohary and sophomore Lucas Chadwell (1:29.87) beat the old record set by Missouri back in 2011.

The Bears got another pool record in the very next event from senior Dylan Moffatt, a MAC record holder in other freestyle events. Moffatt took the pool record in the 1,000-yard freestyle by about four seconds (9:13.95), beating the decade-old record.

"It felt great to break the pool record today," Moffatt said. "It showed how much I've accomplished already this season and where I'm at in the season moving forward."

Juniors Reese Hodgins and Brunno Suzuki-Tomiyama were neck-and-neck in the 200-yard freestyle battling to set the top MAC time in the early season. Hodgins secured the top time with a time of 1:39.20 with Suzuki-Tomiyama slotting right behind him on the MAC scoreboard (1:39.22).

It was a quick swim for Robert Hill in the 100-yard backstroke. Hill set a new pool record with a time of 47.73 which was also good enough to beat his previous MAC-leading time of 49.22 that he set against Lindenwood to start the season on October 6.

The late stages of the meet saw senior Austin Huskey take home the best MAC time this season in the 200-yard IM (1:51.47).

Finally, the Mo State relay men of Elgohary, Chadwell, Hill and freshman Matvei Chesakov bookended their swim with a pool record in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:21.23), retaking the record from Missouri that the Tigers set in 2019.

Both Missouri State men's and women's swimming & diving will return to competition in two weeks at the three-day Purdue Invitational meet starting on Thursday, November 16. The women finished fifth and the men finished sixth in the invitational last season.

New Hammons Student Center Pool Records:

Women:

• 200-yard medley relay: Gracie Colvin, Bradi Jones, Isabella Cothern, Alessia Ferraguti - Arkansas - (1:39.69)

 

• 100-yard breaststroke: Isabella Cothern - Arkansas - (1:01.31)

 

• 200-yard butterfly: Betsy Wizard - Arkansas - (1:58.96)

 

• 100-yard butterfly: Isabell Cothern - Arkansas - (53.27)

 

• 200-yard freestyle relay: Isabella Cothern, Adela Vavrinova, Gracie Colvin, Delaney Harrison - Arkansas - (1:31.82)

Men: 
 

• 200-yard medley relay: Robert Hill, Luigi Maciel da Silva, Nadim Elgohary, Lucas Chadwell - (1:29.87)

 

• 1,000-yard freestyle: Dylan Moffatt - (9:13.95)

 

• 100-yard backstroke: Robert Hill - (47.73)

 

• 200-yard freestyle relay: Nadim Elgohary, Lucas Chadwell, Robert Hill, Matvei Chesakov - (1:21.23)