SPRINGFIELD - Missouri State swimming & diving split its home-opening meet against the crosstown Drury Panthers Friday evening at Hammons Student Center Pool. The women's team dominated all night to come away with a 166-77 win, its first victory of the season. The MSU men's team dropped its first meet of the season, 144-99.

Fifth-year swimmer Cabrini Johnson set a team record in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.40) to take her first event win of the season. Her time took down the previous record owned by Lauren Pavel (2:12.43) that she earned at the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Championships.

"As a fifth-year, it's been pretty tough," Johnson said. "There's been a lot of ups and downs and I think today was a really positive meet for the women's team especially, and we needed that. The team record was very unexpected, honestly."

The women started strong with a win in the 400-yard medley relay (3:40.41), setting the first of many conference-best times this season. The time was the seventh-best time in the event in program history. The Bears also won the 400-yard freestyle relay on the women's side (3.23.02) to top the MVC leaderboard.

Missouri State swept the podium in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Sophomore Lindsey Hervey won her second race of the season in the event with a time of 10:14.96. Fellow sophomores Evie Kolb (10:22.29) and Claire Culberson (10:26.32) rounded out the top three. 

Junior Sophia Coleta was part of three Missouri State wins, including individual victories in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.52) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:58.62), the former was a personal best and the top MVC time in the event this season. 

Samantha Roemer also played a hand in both relay wins and also showed out herself by winning the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.56). The fifth-year swimmer surpassed her best time in the event from last season (2:03.21).

"I think the women's and men's team both raced super well," Roemer said. "We had a lot of fun doing it. It was exciting to put some suits on today and just see where we were at. We were very competitive and strong and we're looking forward to tomorrow."

The Bears got the job done in the sprint events as well. Sophomore Caitlyn Friebe won her first event this season in the 50-yard freestyle (23.46). Missouri State also swept the podium in the 100-yard freestyle junior Lana Janson won the event (50.85), followed by sophomore Makenzie Kurre (51.33) and sophomore Cameryn Johnson (51.90). 

In diving, sophomore Maggie Arceneaux set new personal bests in both the 1-meter (251.02) and 3-meter dive (249.52) to win each event.

The men's team also broke a record with senior Reese Hodgins snagging the Hammons Student Center Pool record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.94). He reclaimed the record for the Bears that was reset by Mizzou's Grant Bochenski (1:37.86) against the Bears in 2021.

"At practice this morning, Coach (Dave Collins) asked me what time I think I'll go and I was like 'whatever the pool record is,'" Hodgins said. "He said I think you can go faster than that."

Sophomore Matvei Chesakov, the current program record-holder in the 50-yard free, held on to the throne in the event with a winning time of 20.37. 

The Bears completed the sweep in the 200 breast thanks to junior Luigi Maciel da Silva, who swam away from the competition with a time of 2:00.25 to also scratch the top of the MVC standings. 

The swim Bears complete the doubleheader with Drury on Saturday, starting at 1:00 p.m., at Breech Pool on Drury's campus. The diving events will run concurrently at Hammons Student Center Pool.