The Missouri State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ended regular season competition on Saturday in St. Charles, Mo. with a quad meet win.  The Bears’ men, with 198 points, topped Saint Louis at 60, followed by Illinois Institute of Technology and Lindenwood with 37 and 16 points, respectively.  The Bears’ women won the quad competition, finishing with 190 points.  Saint Louis finished second with 94 points, followed by Lindenwood with 14 and Illinois Institute of Technology with 13 points.

The men and women swept the relay events, finishing first in the 400 medley, 400 free and 800 free team events.  The Bears’ men recorded 11 individual wins and came in first in both diving competitions.  On the women’s side, the squad posted 10 individual wins and several one-two finishes. 

Highlights of the meet included first place finishes in all distance freestyle events by the men and women.  The Bears’ women were led by freshman Dimi Drakopoulos in the 500 free and 1650 free events.  She placed first with times of 5:14.59 and 17:41.74, respectively. 

Seniors Eduardo Pajares and Vic Riffel led the men’s distance group.  In the 500 free, Pajares triumphed, swimming a time of 4:43.27.  He was followed closely by Riffel at 4:44.84.  Riffel won the 1650 free with a time of 16:24.08.

In breaststroke events, the Bears posted one-two finishes in the 100 and 200 events.  Juniors Fran Moody and Stacey MacDonald split the top spot in the two events.  Moody swam a time of 1:08.90 to finish first in the 100 breast, followed by MacDonald in second at 1:09.37.  MacDonald won the 200 breast with a time of 2:27.89 while Moody came in second, swimming a time of 2:28.63.

On the men’s side, sophomore Roko Simunic placed first for the Bears with a time of 58.09 in the 100 breast.  He out-touched teammate Cajun Skinner in second at 58.46.  Skinner and Chris Novak recorded a one-two finish in the 200 breast, swimming times of 2:09.37 and 2:15.52, respectively. 

The Bears are off until the conference competitions beginning in the middle of February.  The women will compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, the three-day event scheduled to start on February 12 in Carbondale, Ill.  A week later, the men will travel to Nashville, Tenn. to swim in the Sun Belt Conference Championship.  The three-day competition will begin on February 19.  Each time will look to retain top-honors recorded last season.