Oct. 25, 1999
MISSOURI OPENS DUAL MEET SEASON ON THE ROAD
The University of Missouri swimming and diving team is getting down to business. No more exhibitions, this one is for real! The Mizzou teams will take to the pool this Friday evening (October 29) at 6:00 p.m. against Big 12 foe Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. MU has competed in its annual preseason Black and Gold dual meet as well as competing against the rest of the conference teams last Friday (Oct. 22) at the Big 12 meet, also in Ames, Iowa.
During head coach Brian Hoffer's career, the men have struggled. Under Hoffer's direction, the Tigers will be looking for their first victory against ISU.
Hoffer is excited to get the dual season underway to see what Mizzou can do in the pool. The meet will feature the eight new faces to the Tiger roster as well as many veterans who have been great competitors prior to the 1999-2000 campaign.
"We are ready to race in a dual meet," Hoffer said. "We will be swimming the 400 relays, the 200 individual medley, 1000 free and the 200s of all the strokes so I am excited to see what we can do. This is going to be a fun and exciting meet for us. The team is ready to compete in a dual meet."
LAST TIME OUT
This year's meeting between the two teams marks the third straight year the Tigers and Cyclones have met head-to-head to open their seasons. At the 1998 match-up, Halloween was not so kind to the men as they fell to the Cyclones, 155-78 who were ranked 24th at the time of the competition.
Mizzou was led by junior Aaron Lo as he claimed a big victory of the Tigers in the 50 freestyle. MU only claimed one other victory and that came on the three-meter springboard.
TIGERS EYE FIRST VICTORY OVER CYLCONES
Hoffer and the Tigers are looking forward to their first dual meet this season. The young team is excited to see what they can do after coming off their promising performances at the Big 12 Relay meet which was also held in Ames, Iowa last Friday (Oct. 22). This meet was unlike any other meet the Tiger will swim during the remainder of the 1999-2000 season. Every event that the athletes competed in were relays. There were no individual events swam.
Missouri's men scored a team total of 50 points, only 8 points behind fourth place Kansas, a bonus considering several of MU's veterans did not make the trip to Ames. Head coach Brian Hoffer was pleasantly surprised with how his young team performed on the road and against Big 12 competition.
"We had a lot of young guys step up are race well for us on Friday," Hoffer said. "We were in a battle with Kansas until the final two races which was great. The great thing about the meet was we are only going to get stronger from here on out."
Not only did the swimmers compete well, Missouri had two freshman divers compete extremely well against conference competition. Diving coach Pat McCord could not have been happier with the two young men's performances.
"Jason and James went out at did great," McCord said. "They competed at a high level right out of the blocks which is great for their first collegiate meet especially on the road."