INDIANAPOLIS - Missouri State men's and women's swimming & diving teams both sit in second after the first day of the 20th House of Champions Invitational. The Bears only trail Marshall out of the 13-team field of women's squads while the men's team only trails host IU Indianapolis out of an 11-team field.

Fifth-year swimmer Samantha Roemer won Missouri State's first gold medal of the weekend in the 200-yard individual medley in dominant fashion. Roemer started the day by taking the top spot in the prelims (2:00.58), only to keep her position above all with a finals time of 2:00.64. The two times she put up are the second and third fastest 200 IM times in Missouri State history. Roemer now owns four of the top 10 Bears times in the event.

Lana Janson (2:03.58) and Olivia Sala (2:03.81) joined Roemer in the A Final coming in fifth and sixth, respectively.

MoState saw notable improvements in its evening finals swims compared to its prelim times. Caitlyn Friebe took bronze in the 50-yard backstroke final (25.24) after finishing fifth in the prelims of the event with a time of 25.46.

Sophia Coleta improved by more than three seconds in the 500-yard freestyle finals, taking a time of 4:52.79 for third place after coming in at 4:56.23 in the prelims. Coleta improved on her already-leading Missouri Valley Conference time. Sophomore Lindsey Hervey finished seventh in the A Final of the 500 free (5:00.38).

The quartet of Friebe, Cabrini Johnson, Roemer and Janson closed opening night with a win in the 400-yard medley relay (3:40.51), holding off North Texas (3:40.97) by less than half a second.

In diving, Maggie Arceneaux paced the Bears with a fifth-place score of 233.55 in the 3-meter dive final.

The men's team saw similar success in Thursday's events. Senior Reese Hodgins bested the top MVC time in the 500-yard freestyle entering the weekend with a silver medal performance (4:26.84). His finals time was almost four seconds faster than his prelim tally (4:30.83), which was fifth-fastest.

Jack Grandy won his first career individual event medal with a third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (1:47.60). Gonzalo Ruiz (1:47.64) just missed the podium by .04 seconds in his first major midseason meet appearance.

The quartet of Ruiz, Luigi Maciel da Silva, Simeon Sabev and Lucas Chadwell also took home the 400-yard medley relay win with the sixth-fastest time in the event in Bears history (3:12.40). Missouri State held off Lewis University (3:12.76) for the win.

In diving, Storm Opdahl also came in fifth place in the 3-meter dive (317.75). 

The House of Champions Invitational continues Friday and Saturday with competition in 10 events slated for day two. Swimming prelims will start at 9:00 a.m. followed by diving prelims at 11:30 a.m. The finals for both swimming & diving commence at 4:30 p.m.

Women's Scores after Day 1
1.    Marshall - 369.5
2.    Missouri State - 354
3.    Little Rock - 285
4.    Milwaukee - 279
5.    UIC - 277
6.    Lynn University - 187.5
7.    North Texas - 153
8.    IU Indianapolis - 140
9.    Missouri-St. Louis - 90
10.  Butler - 71
11.  Lewis University - 51
12.  Saint Louis University - 49
13.  Quincy University - 18

Men's Scores after Day 1
1.    IU Indianapolis - 419.5
2.    Missouri State - 346.5
3.    Lewis University - 306.5
4.    Milwaukee - 194
5.    Lynn University - 189
6.    UIC - 187
7.    Saint Louis University - 183.5
8.    Missouri-St. Louis - 158
9.    Missouri S&T - 129.5
10.  Quincy University - 122.5
11.  Northern Kentucky - 37