Swim and Dive Bears Plunge into the Missouri Valley Conference Championship

SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State males’s and girls’s swimming & diving groups finish the workforce season on the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, performed over 4 days in Evansville, Ind. beginning on Wednesday, February 25 at 10:30 a.m. on the Deaconess Aquatic Center.

“We are excited to get going this week. The combined format should make for a very electric atmosphere. I feel like our preparation has been good and we are ready for a big week of racing,” said head coach Dave Collins.

Bear Splashes (Women)

• The girls’s workforce overcame UIC within the Bears’ newest meet, with a troublesome 178-175 scoreline.

Standout performances towards UIC included:

• Freshman Aleca Howard had a stellar meet successful three occasions. In the essential 200-yard breaststroke she led a Bears’ podium end, taking the gold with a time of two:19.39. Senior Olivia Sala earned the silver (2:21.59), whereas freshman Paige Corbin earned the bronze (2:21.67).
• Howard additionally took out the 200-yard particular person medley (2:04.94) and the 400-yard particular person medley (4:26.14) highlighting her good type.
• Senior Mackenzie Kurre gained the 50-yard freestyle (23.37) and the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.93, while anchoring two relay wins as effectively.
• Sala, senior Lana Janson, sophomore Lillie Freulon, and Kurre claimed victory within the 200-yard medley relay (1:42.45).
• In the 400-yard relay, Janson, junior Ane Meier, senior Ainsley Jenkins and Kurre gained the gold with a time of three:22.78.  
• Senior Evie Kolb gained the 1650-yard freestyle with a private finest time of 16:57.78.
• On the diving board, within the one-meter competitors freshman Delaney Nickles got here second with a rating of 244.88 simply behind Flames’ Kerry-Leigh Morrison (246.60).
• Missouri State girls’s swimming & diving has gained 20 of the final 23 Missouri Valley Conference championships and appears to return to the highest spot this season after a third-place end in 2025.

Bear Splashes (Men)

• The males’s workforce dominated towards UIC within the Bears’ newest meet, with a 223-110 scoreline.  

Standout performances towards UIC included:

• Freshman Zack Mendez set a private finest within the 1650-yard freestyle (15:18.98).
• On the diving board, within the one-meter competitors senior Storm Opdahl gained comfortably with a rating of 264.98.
• Senior Gonzalo Ruiz, freshman Kiefer Roemer, sophomore Jack Ailshire, and senior Lucas Chadwell secured the win within the 400-yard medley relay (3:13.81).
• Sophomore Mate Miszlai additionally gained the 400-yard particular person medley (3:54.86).
• In the 100-yard freestyle, Chadwell took prime spot (44.59), scraping previous teammate Matvei Chesakov who completed second (44.91).
• Ruiz additionally secured first place within the 200-yard backstroke (1:46.20) simply forward of Miszlai who was the runner-up (1:46.42).
• Miszlai earned one other gold nonetheless within the 200-yard butterfly, (1:49.94), simply three milliseconds in entrance of freshman Kayden Hedrick who earned silver (1:49.97).
• Missouri State males’s swimming & diving can also be seeking to enhance on a third-place end on the MVC Championship in February. The workforce has gained 21 convention championships in its historical past, together with 5 MVC championships.

Head Coach Dave Collins

• Missouri State swimming & diving head coach Dave Collins enters his fifteenth season and can search for his thirteenth girls’s convention championship and fourth males’s league title. He has been named MVC Swimming Coach of the Year eight instances. He was additionally a five-time Mid-American Conference Swimming Coach of the Year.

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