Nov. 11, 2000

COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Missouri women's swimming and diving team placed sixth overall at the Rice Invitational this weekend in Houston, Texas. The Tigers found themselves up against several of the top teams in the country during the two-day meet. Only Friday night's competition was scored as the University of Michigan came out on top with 206 points. The Wolverines, ranked No. 14 in the nation, edged out No. 22 Penn State (206 points) and No. 2 California (205 points) for the victory. Rice finished fourth with 167 points followed by Illinois with 162 and Missouri with 140.

"This was a great meet with good competition," said Head Coach Brian Hoffer. "We were a little tired heading into the meet, especially after such an emotional win last week against Kansas and a tough week of practice."

On Friday night, senior Jeanna Willi sparked the Tigers with a second place finish in the 50 freestyle. Fellow senior Kim Lambert also stepped forward for Mizzou with a fourth place finish in the 100 freestyle.

How good was the competition on Friday night? Nine Rice pool records were set while two more went down during Saturday's competition.

Missouri improved on Saturday, despite the fact that the meet was not team-scored. Willi placed fourth in the 50 freestyle in a time 24.44 seconds. The 100 breaststroke was a big event for Mizzou on Saturday with sophomores Leslie Hoh and Tiffany Bohon both finishing in the top five. Hoh and Bohon tied for fourth place with times of 1:07.53.

Sophomore Sarah Stowe finished sixth in the 1650 free (17:53.00) and later placed seventh in the 200 backstroke (2:10.40).

The Tigers are next in action on Dec. 1 when they travel to the University of Arkansas for the Arkansas Invitational.