A busy start to the season continued for the University of Evansville swimming and diving teams as the Purple Aces swam at Missouri State on Friday evening.
The final scores on the night finished with Missouri State taking a 152-77 win on the women’s side while the MSU men won by a 152-84 final.
Evansville had several notable finishes, performing exceptionally well in the shorter distances. Michaela Kent took second place in the 50 free, posting a 25.36. The men did well in the same event, taking second through fourth place, led by Matt Duke’s time of 21.78. Everett Plocek and Matt Childress followed. Kent did well in the 100 backstroke race, notching another runner-up finish at 1:00.46. Ethan O’Rourke did well in the men’s 100 backstroke event, swimming a 53.94, less than a second off the victor.
Maja Magnusson and Jessi Hildebrand finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 free. Magnusson was just under three seconds off the win, finishing in 2:02.32 with Hildebrand 3.43 seconds behind. The Aces women also did well in the 100 yard fly, taking second through fifth positions. Madi Jones was second with a 1:02.31 with Kayla Aitken close behind.
Magnusson came home second in the 500 free with her time of 5:34.74 while Kelcie Davie rounded out the top three.
In the 1,000 free event, Madi Jones and Andrew Cotton each recorded second-place finishes. Jones swam a time of 11:28.60 while Cotton finished with a 10:26.63 to take the runner-up position.
UE’s top relay performance came in the women’s 200 free relay where Kristen Myers, Jones, Mackenzie Harris and Megan Schremp finished second, completing the race in 1:41.51.
Miguel Marcano had a great day on the boards for the Aces. His 239.32 led the way in the 1-meter dive while Cory Barnes took top honors in the 3-meter dive with a 244.42. Courtney Coverdale took second place in both dives, posting a 229.95 in the 1-meter and tallying a score of 215.85 in the 3-meter. That event saw her finish just 1.8 points behind the winner.
Next Saturday, both squads will compete at the Indiana Intercollegiates in West Lafayette. The meet will begin at 12 p.m. ET.
