Drury picked up a big 1-2 finish in the final women's race of the night, the 400 Free Relay, to earn a split of its "Duel In The Pool" meet with Missouri State Thursday night at the Hammons Center Pool.

Drury claimed a 121-120 victory in the women's dual meet, while the Bears - largely on the strength of diving and their Division I depth - came away with a 131-112 victory.

The Panthers had defeated the Bears on both ends in their inaugural meeting this season, at the Mizzou Show-Me Showdown In Columbia on Oct. 4.

The Drury women won seven of the 11 races contested on Thursday, including two victories for Ariel Xu (50 and 100 Free).
 

Other triumphs came from Allie Reynolds in the 1000 Free, Gretchen Stein in the 200 IM, Yekaterina Rudenko in the 200 Back, and the 400 Medley squad of Rudenko, Martina Dankova, Wai Ting Yu and Kay Gieseke before the victory-clinching effort from Rudenko, Geseke, Yu and Wen in the 400 Free, where they finished just ahead of Stein, Megan Ouhl, Leah Reed and Sarah Pullen for the 1-2 finish that sealed it for the Panthers. 

Dora Kiss won three events for the Bears, taking the 200 Free, 200 Fly and 500 Free. Missouri State kept within striking distance with a strong showing on the diving boards, with a 2-3-4-5 finish behind Drury's Rebekah Laupp - the Panthers' lone diver - in the 3-meter and a 1-2-3-5 finish in the 1-meter board.

Depth was a key for the Bears on the men's side as well, as Missouri State edged the Panthers 6-5 in swimming event victories, but picked up a 1-2 finish in the 1000 Free, a 1-3-4 in the 500 Free, a  1-2-3 finish in the 3-meter diving and a 1-2-4 finish on the 1-meter board to build a strong cushion late in the meet and went on the victory.

Winners for the Panthers were Daniel Rzadkowski in the 200 Free, Rodrigo Caceres Acosta in the 50 Free, Stanislav Kuzmin in the 200 Fly, and both relays - the 400 Medley (Sean Feher, Kacper Pelczynski, Kuzmin and Acosta) and 400 Free (Rzadkowski, Feher, Kuzmin and Kai Wai David Wong).

Drury returns to action on October 25 when the Panthers face Lindenwood and Truman State in St. Peters.

The Panthers and Bears will meet again in the "Duel In The Pool" on January 22 at Drury's Breech Pool.

Drury leads the men's all-time series 15-14 and holds a 13-4 advantage in the women's series.

Results