OXFORD, Ohio - Missouri State men's swimming broke the Missouri Valley Conference record in the 800-yard freestyle relay on the first day of the 2025 MVC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday at Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center. The combination of George Holesinger, Jack Grandy, Reese Hodgins and Brunno Suzuki-Tomiyama shattered the previous championship record held by Evansville (6:41.41) with a time of 6:24.61.

The Bears' 800 free relay time also set a school record, breaking the 6:26.48 time Missouri State set at the 2016 Mid-American Conference Championships.

The race featured a back-and-forth battle that lasted until the final turn between the Bears and the defending race winners of Miami Ohio. Suzuki-Tomiyama anchored the Bears to his fourth career conference gold medal and second in the 800 free relay (MAC, 2022).

The win marked the first career conference medal for Holesinger and the first gold medals for Grandy and Hodgins, who were both part of Missouri State's bronze-medal showing in the event at last season's MAC Championships.

MoState exited the first day of competition with medals in both relay events. The Bears opened the night by taking bronze in the 200-yard medley relay (1:27.61) with Alex Boutin, Luigi Maciel da Silva, Simeon Sabev and Lucas Chadwell. Southern Illinois won gold with a record-setting time of 1:24.72, breaking the previous Valley record held by Missouri State (1:30.35) since 2002, the last year the MVC sponsored men's swimming & diving prior to this season.

The podium finish marked the first for Boutin at a conference meet in his career. Maciel da Silva won his first Division I conference bronze medal after two silver-medal performances last season. Chadwell took his first bronze and fourth career conference medal overall. Sabev earned a medal in his first Valley Championship race since winning a combination of 10 medals across four seasons at the Coastal Athletic Association Championships with Delaware. 

The second day of the MVC men's swimming & diving championships begins tomorrow morning with prelim events starting at 9:30 a.m. CT, which will sort the field for the final rounds of each event starting at 4:00 p.m. CT. The championships can be watched on Chatterbox Sports. 

Standings after Day 1
T-1. Missouri State - 72
T-1. Southern Illinois - 72
3. Miami (Ohio) - 68
4. Ball State - 60
5. UIC - 56
6. Valparaiso - 50
7. Evansville - 26

Tomorrow's Events

Day 2: Thursday, Feb. 20
Prelims: 9:30 a.m. CT
Finals: 5:00 p.m. CT
- 500-yard Freestyle
- 200-yard Individual Medley
- 50-yard Freestyle
- 1-meter Diving
- 400-yard Medley Relay