Jan. 6, 2001

COLUMBIA, Mo.- Both the Missouri Tigers men's and women's swimming and diving teams dropped dual meets to the University of Wyoming on Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz. The Wyoming Cowgirls downed the Tigers by a score of 145-98 while the Mizzou men came up just short against the Cowboys, 125-117. Missouri Head Coach BRIAN HOFFER will have to wait until next Saturday to for another shot at his 100th career victory. He is currently sitting at 98.

The Tigers, who have been training at Arizona State in Tempe for the last five days, were extremely tired heading into the meet. Wyoming was coming off of their 10th day of training and was clearly the fresher team.

"We had some good swims today, but we were extremely fatigued heading into the meet," said Hoffer. "I put some people in some different events today to get a better look, but the bottom line is the training cycle. We are in the middle of intense training right now where as Wyoming is just about finished."

Missouri still put together some solid swims on the day. Freshman ANDREA NIGH won the 50 freestyle in a time of 24.32 seconds, defeating the second-place finisher by close to a full second. Senior captain KIM LAMBERT was the winner of the women's 100 freestyle in a time of 53.97 seconds. Lambert also placed third in the 200 individual medley. SARAH LO was the second place finisher in that event while TIFFANY BOHON came in fourth.

On the men's side, the Tigers' top guns did their part in keeping the meet close. Senior AARON LO, who is now fully recovered from his bout with mononucleosis, won both the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Lo's time in the 100 free was an impressive 45.96 seconds.

Sophomore's MATT FERRARELLI and RADU MICLAUS were also double-winners for the Mizzou men. Ferrarelli, the Big 12 Male Swimmer of the Month, won the 200 individual medley in a time of 1:54.66, over four seconds faster than the second place finisher. Ferrarelli also won the 200 freestyle (1:43.75). He remains undefeated this season in dual meet events.

Miclaus claimed victories in the 200 butterfly (1:53.12) and the 200 backstroke (1:56.10). Sophomore DAN KNUDSON won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:13.11.

As far as failing to claim victory No. 100 in front of his friends and family at his alma mater, Hoffer wasn't too upset.

"It would have been nice to get No. 100 out here, but it wasn't meant to be today," Hoffer said. "I knew going in that today was going to be a real test, especially as hard as we've been working our kids. I told them to forget about this one. We've got five more days of intense training. It is the next four weeks that count."

Those next four weeks begin next Saturday in Kirksville, Mo. when both the men and women will take part in a double-dual meet against Truman State and Northern Iowa. The meet begins at 1:00 p.m.