Nov. 2, 1999
MISSOURI HEADS TO THE LAND OF LINCOLN
The next stop for Missouri swimming and diving will be the Illinois Dual Extravangza November 5-7 in Champaign, Ill. The men's format will be a little different than the women's. Missouri will compete in a double-dual against Kansas and Bowling Green three separate times. The points from each competition carry over to the next meet with the winner decided after Saturday evenings meet.
Head coach Brian Hoffer and the team are all looking forward to competing against some great teams in a fun and exciting format. There are very few times that a team gets to swim this many dual meets in a three day period.
"We can't wait to get in there and race," said Hoffer. "This is a great meet with a lot of opportunities for us to step up and race hard. It is a fun meet since every competition is a dual meet."
A LOOK BACK
The 1998 Illinois Dual Extravangza was a "coming out" party for Hoffer and his Missouri Tigers. All Hoffer had been hoping for since arriving at MU eight years ago was one big win. Well at last year's meet, he got several big wins as Mizzou's men and women both upset Indiana University to start the meet off. The women followed up that performance with another upset over host Illinois 82-66 while the men downed nationally ranked Cincinnati.
JAYHAWKS JOIN THE MIX
Kansas was not at the 1998 version of the Dual Extravangza, but the Tigers and Jayhawks had one of their most memorable meets during the 1998 campaign. No matter what sport it is, the week leading into the Kansas meet is always extra big, now add to the fact that the swimming and diving teams are already going to one of their biggest meets of the season.
Last season, the Missouri men pulled off perhaps the biggest dual meet wins in school history as they defeated arch-rival Kansas by a score of 150-148. The meet came to the final relay where Missouri needed to take both first an third places in order to win the meet and that is exactly what they did. It was the first Tiger victory over Kansas in Hoffer's era and the first Big 12 victory for the Tigers in school history.
TIGERS SPLIT SEASON OPENER
The University of Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving team kicked off its season the way it expected to in Ames, Iowa last Friday night (Oct. 29). The two teams opened up the 1999-2000 campaign against conference opponent Iowa State splitting the decision between them. MU's women dominated ISU's women by a score of 152-86, while the nationally ranked Cyclone men proved to be too deep for the Tigers as they fell by a score of 86-148.
TIGERS COMPETE TOUGH
In its first dual meet of the new season, Missouri fell short to the Cyclones, but not without the Tigers putting up a fight. Despite the loss, Hoffer was very happy with the way the men raced. "Iowa State is a legitament top-25 team. We can get better and improve, but they just have more depth and better talent at this juncture. Even though the score does not indicate it, the races were close and I am proud of how we cam out and raced."
Senior captain Ryan Nevins was proud of the team and the way they battled throughout the entire meet. This was a good meet for the beginning of the year. Even though we were never in the meet point-wise, we were in it team and sprit wise. This was a god meet to prepare us for this weekend."
VICTORIOUS TIGERS
Missouri's efforts were highlighted by three first-place finishes from junior Mike Cervenka and freshman Matt Ferrarelli and Radu Miclaus. Cervenka came away with a victory in the 200 breaststroke while Ferrarelli won the 200 individual medley and Miclaus was victorious in the 200 butterfly.