Nov. 20, 2005
Complete Results
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -
The Missouri women's swimming team battled to a fourth-place finish in the Purdue Invite, while the Tiger men claimed the fifth spot, on the strength of a mixture of top-five all-time performances and four finalists in the platform diving competition.
Freshmen Lori Halvorson and Carly Sullivan provided a spark for the Mizzou women, as did sophomores Lex Howard and Justin Sellers on the men's side. Halvorson swam the 200 back in 2:01.08 in the finals to move up to second all-time in the program, while Sullivan turned in a 16:57.27 in the women's 1650 free to rank third in program history. Sellers moved into fifth-place all-time at Mizzou with a 1:50.64 in the men's 200 fly prelim and Howard claimed the fourth spot in Mizzou annals with a 1:50.11 in the 200 fly final.
Junior Shannon Hogan produced the third-fastest time in Tiger history in the 100 free, turning in a 51.32 in the finals.
"We had some gutsy performances today," Mizzou head coach Brian Hoffer said. "People in the consoles had great energy, and they set up the people in the finals to do well. People like Chris Lukas and Bennett Clark are going significantly faster now than at this time last season."
The 1650 free was the first finals event of the day, taking place immediately after prelims due to time considerations. Sullivan earned the Mizzou women 15 points with a fourth-place finish in the third-fastest time in the 39-year history of the program, and teammate collected a 15th-place finish in a lifetime-best 17:29.20.
The men also got a good start to the meet's final session, courtesy of the distance-free trio of sophomores Brandon Lee and Thomas Baumann and freshman Jake Hoffman. Lee scored 11 points with an eighth-place finish in a time of 16:06.08, while Hoffmann recorded a time of 16:12.08 to finish 10th and Baumann swam the event in 16:14.50 for an 11th-place finish. In all, the Mizzou men were the recipients of 24 points from the men's mile.
In the women's 200 back, Halvorson's time of 2:01.08 placed her third overall, while junior captain
Amy Charley earned a seventh-place finish with a time 2:06.51. Sophomore
Sarah Menefee added a 12th-place finish in a time of 2:05.42, giving the Tigers 33 points in the event.
Senior Chris Lukas was the only Mizzou swimmer to place in the men's 200 back, going 1:48.56 to finish fifth.
Hogan's swim in the 100 free yielded a fourth-place finish and 15 points for the Mizzou women, and sophomore Taye Patterson contributed three points with a 14th-place finish in 52.63.
On the men's side, sophomore Bennett Clark turned in one of the biggest swims of the day for the Tigers, swimming the 100 free in 45.56 to finish third. Lukas, coming off of a short rest after the 200 back, chipped in a point with a 16th-place finish in 48.53.
Freshman Erin Yeager was the lone finalist for the Tigers on either side, and she didn't disappoint. Her time of 2:20.93 narrowly missed top-five all-time status and earned her a seventh-place finish. Freshman Kayla Bowcutt finished 13th overall in 2:24.81. On the men's side, freshman Andrew Mondul brought home an 11th-place finish and senior captain David Darmitzel swam to 15th-place finish in 2:09.84.
The 200 fly would produce another top-five finish, this one courtesy of senior captain Liz Schoborg, who went 2:03.22 to bring home the 14 points awarded to the fifth-place finisher. Freshman Coralie Baumann added a 16th-place finish in a time of 2:11.17.
The men's 200 fly closed the individual portion of the meet in fashion for the Tigers. Sellers and Howard notched top-five all-time performances en route to placing fifth and ninth, respectively, and sophomore Alex Zasadny finished 12th with a time of 1:52.38. In all, the Tiger men accumulated 28 points in their last individual event.
In the 400 free relay, the Mizzou women put up a valiant effort in finishing fifth, falling .30 short of fifth in program history with a 3:26.74. On the men's side, the team of Clark, Lukas, freshman Brad Hubbard and freshman Bryan Difford finished sixth in a time of 3:05.28.
In the diving well, four Mizzou divers worked their way into the scoring column on the platform, led by freshman Kendra Melnychuk's third-place finish with a score of 241.70. Senior Nicole Frazier scored 186.85 points to finish seventh for the Mizzou women.
The men's platform competition proved to be key in helping the Tigers secure a fifth-place finish in the meet. Senior Evan Watters finished fifth with a score of 268.90, and he was joined by sophomore David Boyko, who placed eighth with 215.10 points.
"I'm very pleased with the performance of both teams," Hoffer said. "We raced as well as we ever have at this point in the season. We swam a lot more than other teams that were here, and we got our swimmers used to being tired."
