SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams begin their 2015-16 seasons at the 10th annual Show-Me Showdown hosted by the University of Missouri in Columbia on Friday, Oct. 2, beginning at 3 p.m. at the Mizzou Aquatics Center.
The Bears will compete against the host Tigers as well as Drury, Lindenwood, Maryville, Missouri S&T, Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis, Truman State, Washington University and William Jewell at the meet. All teams besides Missouri S&T (men only) have both men’s and women’s programs.
Last season, the Missouri State men’s and women’s teams both took third place at the Show-Me Showdown to open the year. The women finished with a combined score of 366.50 points, while the men finished with 366.0.
On the women’s side, then-junior Dora Kiss had two of the top performances as she finished fourth in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:55.28 and third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:06.29. Lauren Pavel also placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.78) and 200 IM (2:12.16). Then-freshmen Sydney Zupan and Hanna Flanagan each had noteworthy debuts for the Bears. In their first collegiate meets, Zupan placed in the top 10 in the 200 free (1:55.97) and sixth in the 100 back (59.18), while Flanagan swam the 100 fly in 59.62 seconds to finish seventh.
On the men’s side, then-senior Paul Le won both the 100 backstroke and 200 IM to lead the Bears. Then-junior Miguel Davila earned a runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle and Uvis Kalnins took third in both the 100 butterfly and 200 free for other notable performances for MSU.
Show-Me Showdown – October 2, 2015
Order of Events
200 Medley Relay
200 Freestyle
200 IM
50 Freestyle
100 Butterfly
100 Freestyle
Women’s 1-Meter and Men’s 3-Meter Diving
500 Freestyle
200 Freestyle Relay
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
400 Freestyle Relay
Women’s 3-Meter and Men’s 1-Meter Diving
Scoring Format
Individual Events: Each team can only score its top-three finishers in each event. The top 16 places score.
Breakdown: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Relay Events: Each team can only score its top-two relays in each event. The top 16 places score.
Breakdown: 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22 18-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Number of Events: Each swimmer or diver may compete in a maximum of two individual events and two relays.
1-Meter Diving: Each team will do a diving scramble to try and score the largest point total. Each member on the team will do six dives covering all five groups with true degree of difficulty. The points from each diving group’s highest scorer will count toward the team total score. The best score per diving group (front, back, reverse, inward, twist, 6th opt.) will count towards the total.
3-Meter Diving: Each diver will be required to do six dives from all five groups. No matter what first three dives the divers choose, the degree of difficulty will be set at 2.0. The remaining three dives will be of true degree of difficulty.
Men’s Swimming and Diving Preview
Captains
Uvis Kalnins, Isaac Springer
Newcomers
Bryce Blattner (Wichita, Kansas) – Backstroke/IM
Brenden Bolman (Grayslake, Illinois) – Backstroke
Kevin Douglas (Ste. Genevieve, Missouri) – Backstroke/Free/IM
Minki Kang (Little Rock, Arkansas) – Free
Michael Mollak (Elkhorn, Nebraska) – Backstroke/Free
Artur Osvath (Budapest, Hungary) – Breaststroke
Nicholas Theunissen (Sao Paulo, Brazil) – Breaststroke/IM
Returning All-Conference Selections
Uvis Kalnins (NCAA Qualifier, All-MAC First Team)
Kacper Cwiek (All-MAC First Team)
Miguel Davila (All-MAC First Team)
Isaac Springer (All-MAC First Team)
Ethan Bresette (All-MAC Second Team)
Brandon Weissman (All-MAC Second Team)
Looking Back…
The Bears’ men’s swimming and diving team begins its 50th year of competition Friday after a memorable 2014-15 season that saw a school-record three MSU student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships. Senior Paul Le made his program-record third appearance at the NCAA meet, junior Uvis Kalnins made his second appearance at the Championships and finished with a team-best 21st-place showing in the 400 individual medley, while senior Garrett Nevels became the first Bears diver to qualify for the national meet in 25 years.
Despite a runner-up finish at the Mid-American Conference by a mere 20 points a season ago, Missouri State won 10 of the 20 events at the conference meet. Kalnins broke records in the 200 IM and 400 IM, Isaac Springer set the MAC 100 breaststroke record and the Bears shattered three of the five previous conference relay times at the meet. During the course of the 2014-15 season, the MSU men’s swimming and diving team broke 11 school records and had 10 swimmers earn NCAA consideration times.
Women’s Swimming and Diving Preview
Captains
Ibby Simcox, Heather Snyder
Newcomers
Hope Ernhart (Benton, Arkansas) – Freestyle
Althea Felton (Columbia, Missouri) – Freestyle
Kaylee Larson (Columbia, Missouri) – Breaststroke
Brianna McCullough (Papillion, Nebraska) – Freestyle
Moriah Moore (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) – Freestyle
Josie Pearson (Evergreen, Colorado) – Breaststroke/Butterfly/IM
Loretta Stelnicki (Inverness, Illinois) – Breaststroke/Freestyle
Returning All-Conference Honorees
Rebecca Amparano (All-MVC)
Anna Bump (All-MVC)
Dora Kiss (All-MVC)
Lauren Pavel (MVC Swimmer of the Year, All-MVC)
Ibby Simcox (All-MVC)
Emma Wall (All-MVC)
Sydney Zupan (All-MVC)
Emily Chesser (All-MVC Honorable Mention)
Hanna Flanagan (All-MVC Honorable Mention)
Briana Horozewski (All-MVC Honorable Mention)
Quincy Howell (All-MVC Honorable Mention)
Heather Snyder (All-MVC Honorable Mention)
Looking Back…
Missouri State women’s swimming and diving begins its 18th season of competition Friday after claiming its eighth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference swimming and diving championship – and 12th title in the past 13 seasons – in 2015 in Carbondale, Illinois. The eight-year streak is tied for the second-longest active span in Division I women’s swimming and diving with Virginia and only trails Oakland’s 21 straight conference titles.
The Bears won 10 of 20 events at the MVC meet in February, with junior Dora Kiss breaking the 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly conference records, while sophomore Lauren Pavel topped the 200 IM record. Missouri State eventually had 15 swimmers named to all-conference teams, including Pavel who was named the MVC Swimmer of the Year after winning all three of her individual events at the conference meet. Throughout the course of the 2014-15 season, the MSU women’s swimming and diving team set five new school records
Swimming news courtesy of Missouri State Swimming & Diving.