The Drury-Missouri State swimming rivalry will heat up again Thursday at Drury's Breech Pool for the annual "Duel In The Pool" matchup between the Panthers and Bears.

Races will begin at 6 p.m. between the NCAA-II Panthers and Division I Bears. Drury will also celebrate "Senior Night" festivities for its eight male seniors and four female seniors during the diving warmups approximately midway through Thursday's program. Admission is free for all fans, and concessions will be available.

The "Duel In The Pool" will once again be televised, on a tape-delay basis, by Mediacom Connections 22.

Drury leads the all-time series with the Bears 15-14 on the men's side and 13-4 in the women's competition after the squads split their matchup at the Hammons Center Pool on October 16. Missouri State won the men's race 131-112, while a DU victory in the final relay race of the night pushed the women to a 121-120 victory.

Once again this time, the DU men will attempt to overcome a lack of points in diving by overcompensating with great swimming performances. Drury coach Brian Reynolds said the Panthers' lone diver, Blake Solberg, won't be available Thursday due to a classroom commitment, which will put the DU men down 32 points to the Bears from the start. 

"We'll just try to put up our best times and see what happens," Reynolds said.

In the first dual matchup between the squads this season, the DU women won seven of the 11 races, including victories by Ariel Xu in the 50 and 100 Free. Other Panther victories came from Allie Reynolds in the 1000 Free, Gretchen Stein in the 200 IM, Yekaterina Rudenko in the 200 Back as well as the 400 Medley and 400 Free relays.

Missouri State won 6 of the 11 races on the men's side, with Drury victories from Daniel Rzadkowsksi in the 200 Free, Rodrigo Caceres Acosta in the 50 Free, Stanislav Kuzmin in the 200 Fly as well as the 400 Medley and 400 Free relays.

Thursday's match can be viewed in a free, live webcast at www.drurypanthers.com/watch.