November 8, 1998
COLUMBIA, Mo- The University of Missouri women's swimming and diving team has clinched a winning season. How do you a clinch a winning season after two weeks of competition? By winning five duals in one weekend, that is how. Just hoping to pull off a couple of upsets this weekend, Head Coach Brian Hoffer's women's team swept through the six team field at the Illinois Dual Meet Extravaganza this weekend. The Tigers are now 6-0 and will have over a week to prepare for a mighty challenge at the Indiana University Invite in two weeks.
Not to be overshadowed was the Missouri men's team. The Tiger men pulled off three upsets of their own over the weekend and went 4-1 at the three-day meet to run their dual record to 4-2. They will also be in action in Bloomington, Ind. in two weeks.
On Sunday, both teams competed in a double dual meet. The women easily exposed of their competition by defeating Southern Illinois by a score of 90-23 while taking down Illinois State by the same score. The men defeated Southern Illinois by a score of 65-48, but were beaten by Division II Drury College 71-42. Drury was the story of the weekend as they swept through the men's field defeating the same ranked teams as the Tigers, Indiana and Cincinnati.
The Missouri women had plenty of heroes on Sunday. Junior Tawney Larm was the Tigers' lone double-winner on the day as she won both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. Rikki Janes turned in a very impressive time of 58.54 seconds to win the 100 backstroke.
All four MU freshmen recorded victories on the day. Krista Davis took home her first career victory with a win in the 100 butterfly. Molly Vetter continued her winning ways with a victory in the 1000 freestyle in a time of 10 minutes, 21.79 seconds, the third fastest time in school history. Katie Mae Fields, who holds the second fastest time in the 1000, won the 500 freestyle event. Kara Brooks won her second race of her career with a win in the 100 free.
Cristina Souza and Bethany Biaett went one-two in the 200 free while sophomore's Jeanna Willi and Kim Lambert finished first and second in the 50 free. Fellow sophomore Kara Bramer notched another win in the 200 individual medley.
The Missouri women captured both diving events as well as senior Cortney Coats won the 1-meter event with a score of 213.60. Freshman Erin Wilke was the 3-meter board winner with a score of 219.05.
Chris Peters and Brad Duggan led the MU men on Sunday. Peters was a winner in both the 100 and 200 backstroke while Duggan captured both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Sophomore Charlie Davies continued his breakthrough weekend with a second place finish in the 100 breaststroke. Mike Miller and Shane Whildin finished second and third in the 100 butterfly as Miller was just out-touched at the wall by Southern Illinois's Luke Wortruba.
Sophomore Aaron Lo continued his fine weekend with second place finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Lo's time of 21.02 seconds in the 50 free was a career-best. Senior Ryan Ruddy was a second place finisher in the 200 individual medley.