Men's Swim & Dive Takes Second At Big 12 Relays
Oct. 24, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. - The No. 21 men's swimming and diving team finished second at the annual Big 12 Relays, marking just the second time that the Tigers' men's squad has taken second-place at the event. The No. 18 Missouri women finished in third, tying Kansas with 62 points. “I thought the guys did great today,” Missouri Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. “We came out with good energy and raced well. Texas usually dominates this meet, I was very happy when we came out and won a couple of races.” No. 1 Texas took first with 117 points, while No. 18 Texas A&M finished third with 79. The men posted numerous strong performances through the day, winning gold in third different events. The trio of junior Martin Cernansky, freshman Michael Lopresti and senior Ted Harris contributed with two of the three Tiger wins on the day, touching first in the 150 and 300 breast relays. The team's time of 1:20.86 in the 150 breast edged out the 1:20.93 time posted by the Texas squad. In the 300 breast, the Tigers dominated, finishing in 2:56.34 and winning by over three seconds. Freshman Jan Konarzewski, Cernansky, senior Gilad Kaufman and sophomore Jordan Hawley also contributed with a victory, as the foursome took first in the 100 Medley relay, finishing in 43.71. Later in the day, the team earned a runner-up finish in the 200 Medley relay, touching in 1:33.48. Konarzewski, redshirt sophomore Cameron Sellers and senior Jake Hoffmann took second in the 300 back after finishing in 2:32.81. Hoffmann would contribute to another second-place finish with Cernansky and Harris in the 800 IM Mizzou's 800 free relay team of Sellers, senior Brad Hubbard, Harris and senior Matt Dahlke also took second with a time of 6:53.80. Last, but not least, the team of sophomore Spenser Lauver, Sellers and Dahlke earned second in the 1500 free, touching in 14:22.80. “We got a lot of good swims out of a lot of people today,” said Hoffer. “This meet is a lot of fun. There were a lot of good races, and we had the opportunity to give people some different experiences out there. It's a good meet to get the freshman in some pressure-packed situations early in the season.” Missouri's diving duo of junior Greg DeStephen and sophomore Dante Jones scored big points for the Tigers after taking gold in the 1-meter relay-style event. Later, in the 3-meter, the Tiger tandem impressed again, posting a score 279.05 to edge out Texas A&M for second. “The guys did a great job,” said Missouri Diving Coach James Sweeney. “It was great to beat both Texas and Texas A&M in the 1-meter. No one really looks great this time of year, so getting that competitive edge is really the key. It's really about who can put it together well enough to beat everyone else. We figured out a way to fight through it today and beat some great teams.” On the women's side, the Tigers scored seven top-three finishes. Seniors Jill Granger and Carly Sullivan combined with junior Colleen Gordon to post Missouri's lone second-place finish on the day, finishing the 1500 free in 15:10.10 “We were battling back and forth all afternoon with Kansas and it came down to the last few events,” said Hoffer. “I think it's good for us for our dual next week, which should be a lot of fun. I felt that we struggled in the morning and it took us awhile to get going, but as the meet went on we improved. The diving twosome of senior Kendra Melnychuk and freshman Jordan Morcom posted big scores for Missouri. The duo finished second behind Kansas in the 1-meter after scoring 266.80 points. In the 3-meter, Melnychuk and Morcom struck gold with their score of 297.90 points to help push them in a tie with rival Kansas. Kansas would finish fourth in the event. The men return to the pool on Saturday, Nov. 7 when they'll take on Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. The women will come back home next weekend to take on Kansas in the Border Showdown battle at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. Final Standings Men
Women
|
|
