Men's Swimming in Fourth Place.
11/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 17, 2000
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri's men's swimming and diving team is in fourth place after day one of competition at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill. The Tigers tallied 123 points on the Friday night and find themselves trailing their competitors Northwestern, Southern Illinois and South Carolina. Northwestern leads the meet with 239 points. Southern Illinois is in a close second with 236, followed by South Carolina with 139.
Head Coach BRIAN HOFFER expects better things in the next two days for the Tigers who are competing without their top swimmer and captain AARON LO. Missouri missed Lo's presence in three different events on Friday evening.
"Aaron's absence was the key tonight," said Hoffer. "Even without him (Lo), I am really proud of the way we swam. We knew that this would be our toughest night. We're looking forward to the next two days and we'll see what we can do."
Missouri's top event of the night was the 500 freestyle where four swimmers tallied points for Mizzou. STEPHEN DURLEY was Missouri's top finisher with a fourth place finish in a time of 4:39.99, his top time of the season. Freshmen BRADY KNIPPENBERG and CHRIS TINGLEY finished 13th and 14th overall with in-season best times followed by senior JAMES HERRICK, who also established a season's best.
MATT FERRARELLI was Missouri's top finisher in the 200 individual medley. Ferrarelli placed third with a time of 1:51.88. Senior MIKE CERVENKA captured 11th place in the event in a time of 1:57.02
The Tigers had to go without Lo, who is out with mononucleosis, in the 50 freestyle. Freshman TYLER BELANGER was solid with a seventh place finish in a time of 21.49. Senior SHANE WHILDIN climbed into 11th place with a time of 21.86.
The absence of Lo affected the Missouri relays. The Tigers placed fourth in both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay.
