Southern Illinois University
Missouri State University
Salukis Stay Home for Two-Day against Missouri State
03/04/2021 | 5:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois swimming and diving program starts home competition while hosting the Missouri State Bears at Shea Natatorium inside the Student Recreation Center in Carbondale in two-day dual-meet conference action Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6. Action starts at 4pm on Friday, while the first event of day two starts at 10am on Saturday. The meets will be streamed via SIU's Student Recreation Center's Facebook page, and live times will be available on the Meet Mobile app.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH HANSON
On coming into the third meet of the season…
"As we get more racing and practice under our belts, we're feeling more and more confident. Our schedule is set up differently by design than a lot of teams, many have already raced a whole bunch, we pushed off our meets until spring so we have raced a lot in practice. I've seen a lot of good things and feeling confident going into this weekend that we can step up and perform really well, as we keep going into these next four-to-five weeks of meets we'll get better and better as we go."
On bringing success against Missouri State…
"There's a reason they are the defending champs, they not only have their top guys in every event but a lot of depth. Our main talking point and focus is that, yes we need to win as many events as we can, but we also need to win the second, third, fourth, fifth place slots to gain additional points. We're going to have a lot of kids swimming exhibition, everyone on our roster will have the chance to race. We need their performance and energy this weekend even though they won't score points."
SIU-MISSOURI STATE HISTORY
The Salukis have matched-up against swimming and diving rival Missouri State since 1995. The women are near .500 in all-time records, falling short just 11-12 in history. The men are 8-14 in the series.
In dual-meet action last season, the SIU women were neck and neck with Missouri State, dropping narrowly 111-132 and taking big wins in diving, the women's 200 freestyle, and the 200 breaststroke. Southern took the reigns in both the men's and women's 400 medley relay in Springfield, while the men's team fell to the Bears, 82-159. Then-freshman Adam Cernek earned his fifth 1st place title in the men's 200 backstroke, while also earning a title in the 200 IM.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
As the reigning champions of both the MVC and MAC Championships, the Saluki women dropped to the Bears at the Missouri Valley Championships in Columbia, Mo. by 223.5 points, taking second place at the finals event. At the 2020 MAC Championship, the Bears took home the championships, after being neck and neck to Miami of Ohio and garning 10 first-place events. MSU's Antonio Thomas shared the 2020 MAC Co-Swimmer of the Year title with SIU's Cernek.
While competing in the fall semester, Missouri State has fell in every dual-meet of the 2020-21 season except a win from the women's team against Division II Drury, 174-124. The Bears last meet was at Missouri at the Mizzou Last Chance dual, an individual time trial event with no team scoring. The Bears pulled off two school records were broken,13 lifetime bests and 21 season bests. Returning in the pool for MSU are MAC 500 freestyle and 800 free relay gold medalist Pawel Krawczyk and three-time all-MVC recipient Libby Howell, taking the top title in the MVC's 200 free, 500 free, 1650 free, 400 free relay, and 800 free relay.
LAST TIME OUT
The Saluki men are 1-1 on the season, earning a win in the pool against Evansville 134-80 on Feb. 12 with individual wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle (21.00 and 46.69) by freshman Marc Avery, but fell to MAC opponent Ball State with 12 men on the road on Feb. 20 -- which resulted in two new pool records in Muncie from sophomore Adam Cernek in the 100 and 200 backstroke (50.12 and 1:49.89).
The women's team have competed once in 2021, solidifying a win against MVC opponent Evansville with 130 team points and a new school record by freshman Mima Zaborska in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.39) in a time trial event.
FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
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Players Mentioned
