March 4, 2000
COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Missouri men's swimming and diving team's run at fifth place came up short at the Big 12 Championships in College Station, Texas on Saturday night. The Tigers ended up with 301 points, just 35 points short of the fifth place Kansas Jayhawks.
Despite the team's disappointment, several individuals stood out for Mizzou on Saturday night. Freshman Matt Ferrarelli capped his fabulous weekend with a sixth place finish in the 200 backstroke. His time of one minute, 49.17 seconds was just a tad slower than his preliminary time. Sophomore Andy Cole placed eighth in the event for Missouri after swimming a lifetime-best one minute, 49.24 seconds in his morning swim.
The other big story for Missouri happened on the platform diving tower. Freshmen Jamie Sweeney and Jason Otte finaled and placed sixth and eighth for the Tigers respectively. It is the first time that two Missouri divers had reached the finals in the platform competition.
Freshman Dane Pedersen finished 10th in the 1650 freestyle in a school record time of 15 minutes, 43.08 seconds. Pedersen along with senior Randy Swift (14th place) and junior James Herrick (16th) combined for 11 points in the event. Kansas had a much stronger lineup, combining for 26 points.
Freshman Radu Miclaus placed ninth overall in the 200 butterfly after winning the consolation race. His time of one minute, 49.53 seconds is the third fastest swim in school history. Sophomore Shane Whildin placed 16th overall in the event.
Junior Charlie Davies put together a career-best swim, two minutes, 6.69 seconds in the 200 breaststroke to place 13th overall, but that event may have been the Tigers downfall. While Davies swim was worth four points for the Tigers, Kansas combined for 22 points in the event.
The University of Texas dominated the meet with 1,007 points to claim the Big 12 title. Nebraska finished second with 649 points. Iowa State edged Texas A&M by one point for third place with 564.
Missouri's 303 points marked the third straight season that the Tigers eclipsed the 300-point plateau. Missouri also had 50 lifetime-best swims while 16 times either entered or moved up the Missouri all-time top five list.
*Winner and MU Only Final Team Standings 1. Texas 1,007 2. Nebraska 649 3. Iowa State 564 4. Texas A&M 563 5. Kansas 336 6. Missouri 3011650 Free 1. J. Younghouse, UT 15:07.90* 10. Dane Pedersen 15:43.08^ 14. Randy Swift 16:20.09 16. James Herrick 16:49.45
200 Back 1. M. Ulrickson, UT 1:44.58* 6. Matt Ferrarelli 1:49.17 [1:48.68p$ (2)] 8. Andy Cole 1:50.10 [1:49.24p$ (3)] 19. James Herrick 1:58.34 [1:56.59p]
100 Free 1. B. Jones, UT 43.45* 18. Aaron Lo 45.47 30. Brendan Smith 46.93 33. Jon Baumgart 47.94 34. Brent Pitzer 48.41 ex. Ryan Nevins 47.64
200 Breast 1. R. Chozick, UT 1:58.62%& 13. Charlie Davies 2:06.69 21. Dan Knudson 2:08.75 23. Adam Shapley 2:14.66 -- Mike Cervenka 2:08.43
200 Fly 1. T. Hannan, UT 1:45.03% 9. Radu Miclaus 1:49.53$ (4) 16. Shane Whildin 1:54.14 [1:52.65p] 20. Kyle Sanders 1:59.85 [1:58.05]
Platform Diving 1. T. Dumais, UT 580.20# 6. James Sweeney 376.35 8. Jason Otte 329.45
400 Free Relay 1. Texas 2:53.79% 6. Missouri 3:03.96 Lo, Cervenka, Smith, Nevins
%NCAA Automatic Standard *NCAA Provisional Standard #NCAA Zone Qualifying Standard !Olympic Trial Cut $Senior National Cut &Big 12 Meet Record ^MU School Record (#)Rank on MU All-Time top-5