SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury women's swimming and diving opened its 2025-26 season with a Friday afternoon dual against Arkansas, which turned in a strong all-around performance to earn a 185.5 to 56.5 decision over the Panthers at Breech Pool.

"Swimming against an NCAA Division I, SEC school, so my assessment is based more on the work we've put in the first few weeks of school," head coach Brian Reynolds stated. "Not necessarily the outcome. We had a number of close finishes for second and third place, but this is a young squad, and the results aren't necessarily indicative of the talent we have or where we'll end up in March, so we have to press the process and continue to work."

"Ma Fe (Maria Fe Munoz) stood out today, without a doubt," Reynolds added. "She's a senior leader here. We graduated so much power last year and we have so many younger competitors who are just now learning the effort levels and the things you have to do to compete at a high level, and that's going to take some time. The stars that we graduated last year were very similar to some of these younger swimmers we have now, and they went from non-scoring Division II athletes to being at the top of the podium. I expect a number of these girls to be in that same category, but it just doesn't happen early on like today."

HIGHLIGHTS

• Drury freshman Petra Baumane (23.88) and senior Ashlyn Moore (24.26) finished second and third, respectively in the 50 free, while junior Anastasiia Yermishyna (24.36) placed fourth.
• Moore also logged a fourth-place finish in the 100 free and anchored the Panthers' 200 medley relay team (1:45.66) that placed second.
• Munoz (2:05.45) took second as DU's highest finisher in the 200 IM, in addition to a third-place finish in the 200 fly (2:05.22) and joining Moore on the Panthers' second-place run in the 200 medley relay.
• Freshman Rianne Rose finished fourth in the 200 fly, logging a swim of 2:06.34.
• Sophomore Belen Morales took second in both the 200 free (1:51.45) and 500 free (5:20.63), while also joining the Panthers' efforts in the 200 medley relay.
• Sophomore Nikol Maniko placed fourth in the 200 back, clocking in at 2:05.26, and helped DU to a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay as well.
• Senior Gwen Bergum came through with a second-place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 2:23.21, while also contributing to the Panthers' second-place relay effort in the 200 medley.

UP NEXT
Drury swimming will compete in the SMU Classic next weekend (Oct. 10-11) in Dallas, while the Panthers divers will travel to Clarion, Pa., for the Don Leas Invitational (Oct. 10) and Clarion Fall Classic (Oct. 11).

For all the latest information on Drury swimming and diving, visit drurypanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on Instagram.

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