CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Missouri State men's swimming & diving team moved up to second place after two days of the Mid-American Conference Championships on Thursday, ending the night just one point behind three-time defending champions Miami (Ohio).

"I'm very pleased with how we performed today," head coach Dave Collins said. "We had great contributions all across the events and the boards."

The Bears shot out of a cannon to open the second day by taking a pair of podium spots and four of the top five finishes in the 500-yard freestyle.

Junior Brunno Suzuki-Tomiyama won the 500 free (4:26.02) after getting the last spot in the A final with a prelim time of 4:29.86. He won the B Final and finished ninth in the event last year. Fellow junior Reese Hodgins was not too far in his bid for a bronze medal finish, coming in with a time of 4:29.69 for his first career individual conference medal. 

Senior Dylan Moffatt, who won the event in 2022, finished fourth (4:27.50) and sophomore George Holesinger rounded out the Bears' A finalists in fifth (4:27.53). Missouri State has won the 500 free at the MAC Championships for eight consecutive seasons.

Missouri State had three swimmers in the A Final in the 200-yard Individual Medley. Sophomore Jack Grandy (1:47.36) and seniors AJ Huskey (1:48.36) and Robert Hill (1:49.98) finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. Miami (Ohio) senior Henju Duvenhage (1:43.96) secured his fourth straight 200 IM championship, doing so by breaking former Bear Uvis Kalnins' MAC record of 1:44.03 from the 2015 championships.

Freshman Matvei Chesakov put a stamp on his MAC Championship debut by building on his already impressive 19.97 time in the 50-yard freestyle prelims. The new Bear cemented his name in MSU lore by breaking the program record in the 200 free final with a 19.87, surpassing Lucas Paloschi's time of 19.93 in the 2018 MAC Championships. Chesakov took silver in the final behind Southern Illinois' Alex Santiago's new record time of 19.12.

Sophomore Lucas Chadwell finished fifth in the 50 free as well with a 19.98, coming just .05 seconds behind reigning back-to-back event champion Donat Csuvarszki of Southern Illinois.

The 1-meter diving event took place on Day 2 with a pair of Bears making the A Final. Sophomore Storm Opdahl had the third-best score in the prelims early in the day with a 303.55 while sophomore Logan Schelfaut's 266.85 was also good enough to make the A Final. Opdahl improved his score in the final six dives, finishing fourth with a 306.25. Schelfaut finished eighth with a score of 259.90. 

Competing in the B Final, sophomore Cole Hysong came away with a 13th overall finish (241.05). 

"We feel good about tomorrow's set of events and look forward to keeping things going."

The Bears ended the second day of the meet with a four-place performance in the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Hill, sophomore Luigi Maciel da Silva, freshman Nadim Elgohary and Chadwell improved on their previous season-best time of 3:15.87 at the Purdue Invitational with a 3.11.90. Southern Illinois set the new MAC record with a 3:07.51.

Day 2 Standings

1.    Miami (Ohio) - 263
2.    Missouri State - 262
3.    Southern Illinois - 229.5
4.    UIC - 181.5
5.    Ball State - 156
6.    Evansville - 98
7.    Valparaiso - 72

Tomorrow's Schedule

Day 3: Friday, March 8
Prelims: 10:30 a.m. CT (Watch)
Finals: 6:00 p.m. CT (Watch)
- 100-yard Butterfly
- 400-yard Individual Medley
- 200-yard Freestyle
- 100-yard Breaststroke
- 100-yard Backstroke
- 200-yard Freestyle Relay