Tigers to Battle Big Ten's Finest
1/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving
Jan. 16, 2009
The No. 25 Missouri men's swimming and diving squad will be in action this weekend as the team head to Bloomington, Ind., to take on two of the Big Ten's best, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Indiana Hoosiers, in a co-ed tri-meet.
The meet is scheduled to start at Noon CT on Saturday, January 17, at Indiana's Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center.
Scouting Indiana
Indiana's men come in ranked at No. 8, moving up six spots this week from their previous ranking of No. 14. The Hoosiers are 3-3 in dual meets this year, and are coming off a huge victory last weekend against the No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers. The Hoosiers knocked off the then-No. 6 Vols by a 159-133 total. Indiana also took on the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines, but dropped that dual 176-104.
Senior Matt Lenton leads the Hoosiers in the pool, as he has taken five individual victories this season and set the new school record in the 50 free against Michigan and Tennessee last weekend with a time of 19.84. Sophomore Landon Marzullo is the team's top diver, as he has been named Big Ten Diver of the Week on three separate occasions this year.
Scouting the Buckeyes
The men's Buckeye squad enters the meet with a 6-0 record and a No. 10 national ranking. Last weekend, Ohio State earned a dominating 186.5-99.5 victory over Wright State, claiming victories in 13 of the 14 swimming events and both springboard events.
Ohio State boasts an extremely deep squad, as six of their swimmers, juniors George Markovic, Mark Neiman, Andrew Olson, Niksa Roki, Stefan Sigrist and senior Felipe Travesso have recorded NCAA "B" cut times. They are also led by junior Burkley Showe in the diving well, who was recently named as the Big Ten's co-diver of the week following his performance against Wright State. Showe swept the 1- and 3-meter dives while posting scores that qualified for the NCAA Diving Zones.
Reunited
The Missouri Tiger team will reunite with a familiar face this weekend in Bloomington. Former Tiger assistant coach Stefanie Williams is currently an assistant with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Williams is in her first year with the Buckeyes after spending the last three with Mizzou.
Nationally Ranked
Though the Tigers dropped their meet against Kentucky last weekend, Missouri still holds the No. 25 spot in the national rankings, falling three spots from the last set of rankings.
What's Next
Following this weekend's tri-meet, Missouri's men will have a week off before traveling to Iowa on January 31 for the last dual of the season. After that, all that remains for Mizzou is the Missouri Grand Prix and Big 12 Championships before the Zone's and NCAA's in March.
