Tiger Men and Women Sweep Through Show-Me Showdown

Saturday, October 18

Columbia, Mo.

11:00AM

University of Missouri

Show-Me Showdown

Senior Kendra Melnychuk took the 3-meter title

10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Oct. 18, 2008

Complete Results

Columbia, Mo. - The No. 18 Missouri Tigers Women's Swimming and Diving team took home their fourth Show Me Showdown title in as many years, defeating four other teams from around the state in the season's opening meet.

Missouri's 381 points beat out Drury, Lindenwood, Stephens, and Washington University.

"We need to get started, that's what this meet did today. It allowed us to get racing," Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. "I haven't seen my freshman race as Tigers before, so this was a good chance to see them. It also helps us get the process of the meet down. A lot of these athletes have never been in a college dual meet, so it was nice to get that started. This was the first time we were able to race against some other teams, which was what we were looking for today."

Mizzou's 200 free relay team got the day off on the right foot for the Tigers, as the team of junior Colleen Gordon, freshman Lisa Nathanson, sophomore Francie Szostak and senior Lori Halvorson took first place with a time of 1:35.61.

The top-five spots in the 100 IM were all occupied by Tigers, with Halvorson leading the pack and finishing in first with a time of 58.72. Following her was senior Lauren Cox in second, scoring more points for Missouri after touching in at 1:00.12. Szostak, Nathanson, and sophomore Lauren Lavigna rounded out the top-five. Halvorson would earn another win in the 200 IM later in the day.

In the second session, Nathanson would earn the first victory of her young career, finishing the 50 free in 23.98 seconds. Earlier this summer, Nathanson competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials in the same event.

Junior Molly Bollen and Gordon topped the 100 fly leaderboard, scoring more big points for the Tigers. Bollen finished in first with a time of 57.49, while Gordon came in right after her, touching at 57.89. Shortly after, Lavigna captured another first-place finish for the Tigers in the 100 back, clocking a time of 57.28, with Szostak taking third after finishing at 57.77.

In the 100 breast, sophomore Morgan McCleery finished first after a dominating performance, coming in at 1:05.54 Her time beat out freshman Kayla Durnil, who touched in at second place with a time of 1:07.00. McCleery would also put up a first place time in the 50 breast, finishing at 30.51

Senior Carly Sullivan's time of 5:05.37 in the 500 free gave her first place, beating out the second place finisher by almost 2.5 seconds. Senior Coralie Baumann scored points for Missouri with her third place finish.

Closing out the first session for the women was the 400 medley relay, which proved to be the most exciting race of the morning. The Mizzou team, consisting of Cox, senior Erin Yeager, Sullivan, and Halvorson, posted a time of 3:54.41, which just barely beat out Drury's time of 3:54.45.

"I think generally we had a good day," said Hoffer. "I think we had good energy and I think we had a lot of fun. There are some people swimming mid season times right now, and that was encouraging. We have a big challenge this week and we'll know a lot more after that."

In the diving well, senior Kendra Melnychuk and freshman Jordan Morcom lead the way, helping score big points for the team. The 1-meter was scored as a team scramble, where each member on the team completed six dives covering all five groups with true degree of difficulty. The points from each diving groups highest scorer counted toward the team total score, and the best score per diving group (front, back, reverse, inward, twist, 6th opt.) counted towards the total. Morcom scored the most points out of any other diver in the 1-meter scramble, while Melnychuk scored 287.70 in the 3-meter, good enough for first in the event.

For the men, the 200 free relay team, consisting of sophomore Jordan Hawley, redshirt sophomore Cameron Sellers, senior Jake Hoffmann and senior Matt Dahlke, got the men off on the right foot. The quad of swimmers scored first place points in the meets opening event, finishing with a time of 1:24.62.

The 100 IM featured an abundance of Tiger swimmers, but senior Gilad Kaufman and junior Martin Cernansky led the way, finishing 1-2 in the event while scoring big points for the Tiger team. Kaufman's time of 52.40 just edged out Cernansky's second-place time of 52.48.

Kaufman also scored points in the 100 fly, coming in second at a time of 51.62. Right behind him was freshman Scott Martin, coming in third place in his first career individual collegiate race. Martin finished his run in 51.62.

The Tigers also dominated the diving well, sweeping titles in both events. Junior Greg DeStephen, an All-American, scored 329.05 in the 3-meter, taking first, while sophomore Dante Jones scored the most points in the 1-meter scramble, giving the Tigers the edge in the event..

Final Women's Team Standings