Men Trail Cardinals After Day One
Nov. 14, 2008 LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Missouri's No. 21 men's swimming and diving team completed the first of two days of competition against Louisville this afternoon, and will enter the second day of the meet trailing the No. 18 Cardinals 92-75. "There were a couple of things that we didn't expect to happen today, both good and bad," Missouri Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. "The men have an uphill climb tomorrow, but if we can get a couple of events going our way, we've definitely got a shot." Mizzou's 200 free relay squad of sophomore Jordan Hawley, freshman Scott Martin, redshirt sophomore Cameron Sellers and senior Ted Harris opened the day by posting Missouri's fastest time of the season in the event, finishing at 1:24.22 for second place. In the next event, the 200 IM, the Tigers would get a 2-3-4 finish out of senior Jake Hoffmann (1:54.04), junior Martin Cernansky (1:54.08) and senior Bryan Difford (1:54.32). Sellers and sophomore Spenser Lauver reeled in a 2-3 finish of their own in the 500 free. Sellers took second, touching in 4:35.28, while Lauver finished third at 4:38.64. Cernansky would score the first victory of the meet for the men in the 100 breast. In a race that came down to the wire, Cernansky touched at 56.56, edging out his Louisville opponent by just .02. Harris took third, finishing at 56.68, while freshman Michael Lopresti came in fourth with a time of 59.81. "The 200 back was a great event for us," said Hoffer. "Jan unleashed, we were very happy with his swim. Jake [Hoffmann] by far posted his best 200 back time on the season, and Higgins scored a new personal best with his time." Senior Gilad Kaufman also posted his best 200 fly time of the season, but was still edged out by two Cardinals. Kaufman finished the race in 1:50.68. The Tigers ended the day in the pool with an impressive second-place finish in the 400 medley relay. The foursome of Konarzewski, Cernansky, Kaufman and Hawley closed the relay with a time of 3:21.54. Missouri continued their diving dominance, getting another 1-2 finish out of junior Greg DeStephen and sophomore Dante Jones in the 3-meter. DeStephen dominated the field, posting a score of 342.67. Jones finished with 290.93 for the silver. The No. 20 Missouri women will enter the second day of action in a heated battle with the No. 23 Cardinals, as Louisville leads the meet 86-81. "The women are doing very well," said Brian Hoffer. "We were beaten out on a couple of touches here and there, and there a couple of things we need to do better tomorrow, but it was a solid start for us being on the road. If we can come back tomorrow and improve on a few things, we have a great chance to win." Like the men, the women opened up the meet with a runner-up finish in the 200 free relay. Freshman Lisa Nathanson, senior Lori Halvorson, senior Lauren Cox and sophomore Francie Szostak teamed up to finish the swim in 1:35.08, Mizzou's fastest time on the season in the event. The Tiger women got their first victory of the afternoon with a 1-2 finish in the 500 free. Szostak took gold with a time of 4:54.50, beating out senior teammate Jill Granger, who took second after touching at 4:55.14. "Francie and Jill were great for us in the 500 free," said Hoffer. "The two of them took control from the beginning and posted some very good early season times." In the 100 breast, sophomore Morgan McCleery improved on her career-best for the second time in as many meets. Her time of 1:04.47 put her in second, and improved her eighth-fastest time in school history. The time beat out her old career-best of 1:04.55, which she achieved earlier this month against Kansas. Sophomore Lauren Lavigna scored a win in the 200 back, getting a great touch to finish in 2:01.84. Senior Lauren Cox came in third with a time of 2:04.33, while freshman Amber Molina's time of 2:05.44 put her in fifth. Sophomore Melissa Jamerson landed her first victory on the season, beating the rest of the competition by over one second in the 200 fly with a time of 2:04.14. Mizzou's 1-2 diving punch of freshman-phenom Jordan Morcom and senior All-American Kendra Melnychuk posted another 1-2 finish in the well. Morcom posted a score of 282.15 in the 3-meter to edge out Melnychuk's 279.22. Missouri will be back in action tomorrow as the Tigers look to come-from-behind. The second session is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. CT.
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