University of Missouri
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Kansas
Missouri Men Upset KU!
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
December 5, 1998
COLUMBIA, Mo- Just another day at the pool right? With the Missouri women's swimming and diving team getting all of the attention this week, it was the Missouri men who pulled off perhaps the biggest dual win in school history as they defeated arch-rival Kansas, ranked 24th in the country, by a score of 150-148. The win marked the second upset of a top 25 school this year for the MU men. They defeated 24th ranked Indiana last month. The Tiger women dropped their first dual meet of the year by a score of 170-130.
The men's meet came down to the final three events. Two of those events went Missouri's way in the most unlikely of ways. First it was the 3-meter diving event, where MU walk-on Ryan Day was the only competitor for the Tigers. The sophomore with one career victory under his belt captured the event and nine big points for the Tigers. Kansas answered in the final individual event of the day, the 400 individual medley. The Jayhawks went 1-2-3 for 16 points while the Tigers tallied just three to give KU a 144-137 lead going into the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.
With Missouri needing to take both first and third place, the Tiger relay was in that exact position going into the final leg swimming neck-and-neck with the Jayhawks. As MU's Ryan Ruddy and the KU swimmer entered the water, the KU swimmer was fouled for entering the water too soon, and therefore disqualified. With the Tigers finishing in third place as well, the Tigers won the meet 150-148.
It was the first Tiger victory over Kansas in Head Coach Brian Hoffer's era and the first Big 12 victory for the Tigers in school history. Incidentally, Hoffer was not on hand for the meet. His father passed away earlier in the week. Hoffer spent the week in Phoenix, Ariz. with his family. Assistant Coach Will Cobb assumed the duties on Saturday.
The Tigers also received huge performances from senior's Mike Miller, Chris Peters and Dave Kinsella, as well as sophomore Aaron Lo. Miller won both the 100 and 200 butterfly events and was a part of both MU first place relay teams. Peters recorded a big win in the 100 backstroke and swam the third leg of the winning 400 free-relay. Kinsella swam the first leg of the race to give MU the early lead. Lo was a double-winner with victories in the 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
The Missouri women were not as fortunate. The Tigers got off to an early lead thanks to the 1000 freestyle event where freshmen Katie Mae Fields and Molly Vetter, along with sophomore Cristina Souza took first, second and third place. The Tigers also captured the 200 medley-relay early in the meet.
Junior Tawney Larm enjoyed a fine meet with second place finishes in all three events she entered. The downfall for Missouri was on the diving boards where KU outscored the Tigers 32-6.
