Courtesy: Missouri State Athletics
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Several members of the Missouri State swimming and diving team took full advantage of being back in the water, as the Swim Bears posted impressive marks while splitting with crosstown foe Drury at Breech Pool on Saturday.
The women looked impressive in their opening meet of the season with a decisive 174-124 victory over the Panthers. On the men’s side, Drury notched a 207-88 win over the Bears.
“It felt great to be able to watch our kids race,” Missouri State head coach Dave Collins said. “We have put in a lot of working training and we saw some really nice things today. For our women racing for the first time in ten and a half months, it was nice to see them back at it and they had some really nice performances. This meet will give us something to work off of as we prepare for our upcoming races. We will evaluate everything and make some adjustments in the future, but it was just nice to see everyone race.”
Libby Howell and Anna Miller highlighted the meet as both set pool records during the event. Howell set her pool record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.20. The mark was also a new school record and personal best for Howell. Miller swam a 49.81 in the 100-yard freestyle to set her pool record mark.
In addition to winning the 200-free Howell won the 500-free while narrowly missing out on first in the 200-butterfly as she was defeated by three-one hundredths of a second. Miller also won the 50-yard freestyle and recorded a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
Other individual women’s highlights included sweeping the 100-yard breaststroke with Yuliya Zubina blowing away the field to win with a time of 1:03.26. In addition to Howell and Miller, numerous Bears recorded second-place finishes, including Grace Beahan (500-free), Sam Hietpass (1000-free), Kellie Fischer (100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke), Jordan Wenner (100-free), Zubina (200-yard breaststroke) and Sami Roemer (200-yard IM).
The women’s 200-free relay squad of Zubina, Howell and Miller took won their event with a time of 1:33.27, as Zubina swam both the first and second legs of the race.
On the men’s side, Michael Hampel and Dylan Moffatt both recorded individual wins. Hampel took first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:06.79 while Moffatt won his first collegiate race after swimming a 9:27.88 in the 1000-free.
Pawel Krawczyk also turned in solid performances, recording one second-place finish and a pair of third-place finishes. Krawcyzk narrowly missed out on winning the 500-free as he was just .11 seconds off of Drury’s Lucas Lima.
Jimmy Doromal garnered a runner-up finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:08.8, while Robbie Hill recorded a pair of third-place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes.
The Bears were dominant in diving action at the Hammons Student Center as the women swept both events and the men’s posted solid individual scores.
“I am extremely pleased with the performance of our divers today and the best is yet to come,” Diving Coach Jim Huelskamp said.
Ashley Yarbrough won both the women’s one-meter and three-meter dives. The Ballwin, Mo., product also had qualifying marks on both boards.
Following Yarbrough in the women’s one-meter dive was Dayana Popa in second and Adrianna Avila in third. In the women’s three-meter dive, Avila recorded a second-place finish while Popa finished in third.
MSU took the top-two spots in the Men’s one-meter dive with Michael Claunch winning the event and John David Spence finishing in second.
The Swim Bears will be back in action Jan. 22-23, as they travel to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame.
Courtesy: Drury Athletics
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury men’s swimming & diving team defeated Missouri State 207-88, while the DU women’s squad was edged by the Bears 174-124 in the ‘Duel in the Pool’ at the Breech Pool in Springfield on Saturday.
Men’s Highlights
The Drury men’s team won 12 of the 14 swimming events against Missouri State.
The Panthers started the day with a win in the 200 Medley Relay. Nathan Bighetti, Dawid Nowodworski, Dominik Karacic, and Karol Ostrowski combined for a time 1:29.07.
Nowodworksi, a senior from Poland, won two more events taking the 100 Breaststroke (54.91) and the 100 Butterfly (48.46).
Kham Glass also won a pair of individual events as he finished first in the 100 Backstroke (48.57) and took the 100 Free with a time of 45.97.
Jan Rasmussen won the 100 Free with a time of 1:40.51, while Dominik Karacic took the 200 Butterfly in 1:51.80.
Karol Ostrowski, who owns the second-best time nationally in the 50 Free, won that event getting to the wall in 20.18 to finish ahead of teammate Alex Bowen, who swam a 21.13.
Nathan Bighetti won the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:51.11, and Lucas Lima’s time of 4:36.81 was the top mark in the 500 Free.
James Brown earned a win in the 200 Individual Medley, posting a time of 1:53.88.
Drury also won a diving event as sophomore Cole Earl won the three-meter event with 343.05 points.
The Panthers also won the 200 Free Relay as Glass, Ostrowski, Eric Nunn, and Rasmussen posted a time of 1:22.12.
Women’s Highlights
The Drury women’s team, who competed at 17th ranked Arkansas on Friday, won the majority of swimming events against Missouri State, taking eight of the 14 contests.
Laura Pareja won two individual events. The junior from Grenada, Spain, finished first in the 100 Backstroke, winning by more than a second-and-a-half with a time of 54.49. Pareja returned to win the 200 Backstroke by 0.01 seconds. She posted a time of 2:02.52 and out-touched Missouri State’s Kellie Fischer’s time of 2:02.53.
Bec Cross, a junior from Australia, also won a pair of events. Cross earned a win in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:19.94, and she took the 200 Individual Medley, winning with a time of 2:05.42.
Allison Weber continued her strong performances in distance events as the junior from Marshall, Missouri, won the 1000 Free by more than four seconds as she posted a time of 10:06.25.
Mackenzie Harris gave the Panthers a win in the 200 Butterfly (2:03.65), while Kasia Rogowska won the 100 Butterfly with a time of 54.84.
Drury’s 200 Medley Relay also posted a win as Pareja, Rogowska, Cross, and Josie Bushell teamed up to complete the event in 1:43.73 and won by 0.48 seconds.
Both Drury swim teams compete again next Friday when they travel to Rolla to face Missouri S&T in dual competitions starting at 4 pm.
