CARBONDALE, Ill. - Missouri State swimming & diving picked up seven event wins on the first day of its first meet of the season against Southern Illinois at Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium on Friday. The men's team leads the Salukis, 98-69, while the women's team trails, 140-46, halfway through the meet.

The Bears nabbed their first event win of the season thanks to junior Jack Grandy, who held off SIU's Alex Cimera by .05 seconds to take the 200-yard individual medley (1:51.91). The men's team picked up six wins across the day.

Senior Brunno Suzuki-Tomiyama, who won the Mid-American Conference Championship in the 500-yard freestyle at this pool in March, verified his gold medal once again by taking the event on Friday with a time of 4:36.75.

MAC medalists from last season continued their success in their respective events. Junior Luigi Maciel da Silva won the 100-yard breaststroke after taking silver at conference last time out with a time of 55.27. Junior Brayden Goeldner (55.27) took second in the event.

Freshman Gonzalo Ruiz was the lone newcomer to grab his first win of the season in the 200-yard backstroke (1:47.61) and did so comfortably. Ruiz led second-place finisher Will Huggins of SIU (1:49.07) by over a second at the line.

Junior Chris Bedsole also had a clear path to victory in the 200-yard butterfly (1:51.79) to defeat SIU's Nate Worsham (1:53.24) by over a second as well.

The men's team ended the event by picking up its first relay victory of the year in the 400-yard medley relay. Ruiz, Maciel da Silva, Bedsole and junior Lucas Chadwell paced the field with a time of 3:18.47.

Junior Logan Schelfaut was the highest-scoring Bear for the men on the 1-meter board (261.45), for third place.

The women's team picked up an event win thanks to senior Payton Smith in the 200-yard butterfly. The former MVC silver and bronze medalist in the event won with a time of 2:05.97 to match Bedsole's victory on the men's side to complete the Bears' sweep of the 200 fly.

"It was a lot of fun to get back into racing this weekend especially against a conference opponent," Smith said. "It was great to see some offseason work translate back into the meet, but also being able to pinpoint some areas to continue to work at throughout the season. I'm excited for what my senior year has to bring and I'm looking forward to soaking in every moment and just having fun with it all."

In diving, senior Courtney Stanbury was the highest-scoring Bear on the 3-meter board (206.25), also good for third place.

Missouri State swimming & diving will conclude its first meet of the season with the second and final day against Southern Illinois on Saturday with events starting at 10:00 a.m.