The Missouri State men's and women's swimming teams swept dual meets from Division II Truman State, 156-93, and 134-119, respectively at Pershing Natatorium Saturday.
The Bears won 24 events, including 14 on the men's side, for the sweep. The victory for the men (6-1) is its 27th consecutive in the all-time series with the Bulldogs. The women's team (6-2) topped Truman for the 10th time in 19 meetings.
The meet marked MSU's first outing since returning from a grueling winter break trip to the Rocky Mounting where it trained in altitude with Colorado Mesa and Sun Belt Conference member Denver.
The Bears won both of the 200-yard medley relays and 1,000-yard freestyle events to begin the meet.
Seniors Anna Ahlin, Renata Sander and Janke Engelbrecht and junior Roni Balzam combined to take the women's 200 medley in 1:48.41. Sophomores Isaac Springer and Uvis Kalnins and juniors Paul Le and Vitalii Baryshok teamed to win the men's race in 1:30.50.
The 1,000 freestyles went to sophomores Dora Kiss (10:28.32) and Miguel Davila (9:46.06), respectively.
Junior Isaac McKnight and senior Michal Bulak followed, finishing 1-2 in the 200 free, touching in 1:45.43 and 1:47.25 for the Bears.
Ahlin and Emily Chesser and Matthew Wilson and Kalnins claimed the top two spots in the 100 backstroke events. Ahlin swam 58,78 and Chesser went 1:01,09. Wilson took the men's race in 51.25, while Kalnins was less than a quarter-second behind in 51.48.
Freshman Uldis Tazans, who joined the team from Riga, Latvia, over winter break earned his first collegiate victory in the 100 breast, betting out teammate Aaron Dennis, who was second in 58.64.
Other solid outings came from sophomore Rebecca Amparano, who won the 200 butterfly (2:08.30). Junior Shannon Myer also claimed both the 50 (24.97) and 100 (53.75) freestyles.
Baryshok made it a sweep in the 100 free, winning the men's event in 45.84. Kiss and Yuri Garanito did the same in the 200 back, touching first in 2:10.60 and 1:51.21, respectively.
Heather Snyder (5:16.37) and Jared Roberts (4:47.56) won both the 500 freestyles. Kalnins, Baryshok, Le and McKnight closed the meet winning the 200 free relay with a time of 1:23.41.
Missouri State returns to action at Drury Thursday. The Bears will go for a season sweep of the Panthers at Breech Pool starting at 6 p.m. The meet will be on Mediacom 22 on a tape-delay basis.
