SIU swim & dive won six events in its loss on Saturday to the Missouri State Bears, with the men’s side losing 187-50 and the women’s losing 138-105.

The Saluki women came into the meet looking for their first win against the Bears since 2014, while the men were looking for their first win against MSU since 2006.

Southern senior freestyler Bryn Handley was the one to watch Saturday as she led the team in swimming with two event wins, setting a new Missouri State pool record in the process.

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Handley walked away with a win in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.51, and shined in the 1000-yard freestyle as she took the event with a time of 10:05.95, breaking the previous Hammons Student Center Pool record of 10:07.95.

Sophomore Samantha Parsons added to the Salukis’ six event wins as she placed first in the 200-yard breast stroke with a time of 2:26.16.

Senior Alex Crawford turned in two top-five performances for the men’s side, placing fifth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.03 and placing second in the 200-yard back stroke with a time of 1:52.77.

Junior Chris Cole also turned in two top-five performances as he took third in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:34.90 and placed fourth in the 200-yard butterfly, turning in a time of 1:56.72.

The diving team shined against Missouri State as they took three out of the four events, only suffering a loss in the 3-meter dive.

Sophomore diver Baobao Ji continued to show her dominance in diving as she took first in both the 1-meter dive and the 3-meter dive, winning her third and fourth events of the season.

Baobao Ji won the 1-meter dive with a new personal best score of 280.80 in the event, while winning the 3-meter dive with a score of 286.80. Sophomore diver Beibei Ji placed second in both dives behind her sister Baobao.

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Sophomore diver Eli Mercado took his third-straight win in the 1-meter dive, putting up a score of 282.67. Mercado also took second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 250.87.

SIU’s next meet is scheduled for Oct. 21 in Edwardsville, where McKendree University will host SIU and Truman State for a weekend matchup. The first event is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start inside the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.

Sports reporter Dillon Gilliland can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @DillonGilliland.

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