Feb. 2, 2001
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TIGERS TRAVEL TO EVANSVILLE FOR FINAL TUNE-UP
The Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving teams will have one last dual meet to prepare the upcoming Big 12 Championships. The Tigers will travel to Evansville, Ind. for a Saturday afternoon dual with the University of Evansville. The meet begins at 1:00 p.m.
Missouri's women enter the meet with a dual record of 5-4. The Mizzou men are 5-3 on the season. Both Evansville teams are an even 4-4 on the year.
Following the Evansville meet, the Missouri women will be just two weeks out from the 2001 Big 12 Championships in Austin, Texas. The men will have a month to prepare as the men's championships do not begin until March 1.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite posting several fast times last weekend, the Missouri Tigers were just not fast enough. The Missouri women, who spent some 17 hours on a bus over the weekend, dropped back-to-back duals at Iowa and Nebraska. The Tigers ran into a buzz saw in Iowa City as the Iowa Hawkeyes put up some phenominal numbers to defeat Mizzou 182-117.
The next day in Lincoln, Neb., the Tigers gave themselves a chance to win, but could not overtake the host Huskers, falling 130-112.
The Missouri men also put up some very fast times on Saturday in Lincoln, but Nebraska caught a couple breaks and held on for a 134-109 victory.
WHO'S HOT
Several Missouri swimmers are either coming into their own, or are just plain old on fire heading into the final weeks leading up to the Big 12 Conference meet.
Senior MIKE CERVENKA has won the last three 200 freestlyle events for the men. The Plymouth, Minn. native has been under 1:40 in his last two races. Against Iowa State, Cervenka broke the MU Natatorium record with a winning time of 1:40.17. Not satisfied, Cervenka went even faster the next day against Southwest Missouri State. Again, he came out on top, this time turning in a time of 1:39.89. He stayed under 1:40 last Saturday in Nebraska with a winning time of 1:39.99.
On the women's side, no Tiger has their stride more than senior diver KRISTY WANNER. Wanner has won her last eight diving events, sweeping both the one-meter and three-meter competition in MU's last three dual meets.
Wanner has been especially strong on the three-meter board where she has scored over 310 points in two of the last events.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
The Tigers hope to do a lot of chart climbing at the conference championships, but they got a head start last weekend. Freshman SARAH LO led the charge on Friday night at Iowa in the backstroke. Lo recorded a career-best 56.55 in the 100 backstroke and a time of 2:03.69 in the 200 back to move into second place in MU history in both events.
Sophomore ELLEN CROSS also jumped up a spot in the 100 backstroke on Friday evening. Cross recorded the fourth fastest time in school history, 57.68.
On the men's side, sophomore STEPHEN DURLEY may have had a breakthrough meet. The talented St. Louis native posted his fastest time to date in the 1000 freestyle (9:33.61) to jump into fith place all-time at MU.
MORE POOL RECORDS
Mike Cervenka wasn't the only Tiger breaking MU Natatorium records two weekends ago. As a matter of fact, the Mizzou men took down three pool records in all.
Sophomore MATT FERRARELLI broke his own 200 individual medley record against Iowa State. Ranked seventh in the country in that event, Ferrarelli won the race in a time of 1:51.30, over seven seconds faster than the second place finisher.
RADU MICLAUS also broke an MU Natatorium record. Against Southwest Missouri State, Miclaus took down the 200 butterfly mark, establishing a new top time of 1:48.65. Miclaus is ranked No. 22 in the nation in that event.
FERRARELLI HOPES TO KEEP ON ROLLING
It has been quite a year for sophomore MATT FERRARELLI.
Ferrarelli enters the final dual meet of the season nationally-ranked in three events. He is currently ranked second in the nation in the 400 individually medley with a time of 3:50.69. He is ranked seventh in the 200 IM (1:49.30) and 14th nationally in the 200 backstroke (1:47.62).
Ferrarelli was named the Big 12 Male Swimmer of the Month for November and December. He has won all but one dual meet race he has been entered in so far this season, and has failed to finish in first place in just five events.
NATIONALLY-RANKED TIGERS
Matt Ferrarelli is not the only Tiger swimmer in the national rankings. According to Taper and Shave Magazine's College Quick 25, Missouri is ranked nationally in seven events.
Besides Ferrarelli, fellow sophomore RADU MICLAUS is ranked 18th in the country in the 200 butterfly. Miclaus' top time is 1:48.33.
Three Missouri relays are currently ranked among the nation's top 25. The men's 200 medley relay is ranked 17th in the country. The team of Ferrarelli, Lo, SHANE WHILDIN and MIKE CERVENKA posted a time of 1:31.41 at the Arkansas Invite.
Two of the Tigers' women's relays are also ranked. Mizzou's 200 freestyle relay team consisting of JEANNA WILLI, ANDREA NIGH, TARA BROOKS and KIM LAMBERT own the 14th fastest time in the country. Nigh and Lambert join ELLEN CROSS and KARA BRAMER as the 16th fastest 400 freestyle relay team in the country. They posted a time of 3:26.65 at the Arkansas Invite.
THE LO DOWN
How 'Lo' can the Tigers go? Pretty 'Lo' and that's a good thing.
The brother/sister combination of men's captain AARON LO and women's stud freshman SARAH LO has been tough to beat. Aaron, the senior leader, has returned from a bout with mononucleosis and has never looked better. With his last Big 12 Championship meet on the horizon, Aaron looked impressive in the 50 freestyle on Saturday at Nebraska. His winning time was 20.89, the third fastest time he has posted this season.
As mentioned earlier, Sarah led the charge for the women last weekend. She won the 100 backstroke against Iowa on Friday evening (56.55) in the second fastest time in school history and also recorded the school's second fastest time ever in the 200 back (2:03.69). On Saturday against Nebraska, Lo was under 57 seconds again in the 100 backstroke, winning the event in a time of 56.90 seconds.
Missouri hopes to hear the name Lo mentioned often at the Big 12 Championships.
IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME
With Big 12 Championships right around the corner, as always, depth is going to be a major key for the Missouri Tigers. Last weekend, some of that Mizzou depth started to emerge.
On the women's side, sophomore KATY CHANDLER, who is going to be a big factor in the 200 and 500 freestyle events, recorded season-best times in both events last weekend. Fellow soph CHRISSY FRIEH has posted top times in the 200 freestyle and both the 100 and 200 backstroke in the last two weeks. Another sophomore, ELLEN CROSS, put up her season's best times in the 200 free and 100 backstroke.
The men saw distance swimmers STEPHEN DURLEY and BRADY KNIPPENBERG record season's best times. Durley won the 1000 freestyle at Nebraska by posting the fifth fastest time in school history, 9:33.61. Knippenberg, a freshman from Naperville, Ill., notched his season's best times in both the 500 freestyle and 1000 freestyle.
HOFFER CLAIMS 100th CAREER COACHING VICTORY
Missouri Head Coach BRIAN HOFFER earned his 100th coaching victory of his career at Truman State on Jan. 13. Hoffer entered the meet with 98 career victories. Hoffer's career coaching record stands at 104-83. He is in his ninth season as the head coach of the Missouri Tigers.
MAKING THE GRADE
It was another solid semester in the classroom for the Missouri swimming and diving program. The women posted a fall semester GPA of 3.10 while the men averaged out at 2.79.
Of 25 MU student-athletes to obtain a 4.0 GPA, five of those were recorded by Mizzou swimmers. Current Tigers MATT FERRARELLI, KYLE SANDERS and KRISTY WANNER earned 4.0 GPAs in the fall while former Tigers JULIA ALEXANDER and KRISTIN ZIEMKE posted perfect scores on their way to earning degrees.
The Tigers had 18 swimmers show up on the Fall 2000 Student-Athlete Dean's List. Making the grade on the men's side were: BERT BAIOTTO, STEPHEN DARMITZEL, MATT FERRARELLI, DAN KNUDSON, RADU MICLAUS and ERIC SULLINS. On the women's side, 10 current Tigers showed up on the list: TIFFANY BOHON, KATY CHANDLER, ELLEN CROSS, LESLIE HOH, SHANNON HOLLSTEN, LIZZA IGOE, KIM LAMBERT, JESSICA SHAW, SARAH STOWE and MOLLY VETTER. Former Tigers pursuing their degrees that made the Dean's List were RANDY SWIFT and TAWNEY LARM.
HOFFER HAS HIS PROGRAM HITTING 100
The number 100 has become a milestone number for Hoffer's program. Last season, the Mizzou men and women eclipsed the 100-plateau in school records broken in Hoffer's eight seasons. The men and women have combined for a 104-86 record during Hoffer's tenure (59-40 women, 45-46 men).
The Tigers have also achieved in the classroom under Hoffer. Missouri has had 132 athletes selected to the Academic All-Conference teams over the last eight seasons.
TIGERS ARE A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Three seniors, KIM LAMBERT, KARA BRAMER and KRISTY WANNER will play major rolls the rest of the season for the Missouri women. The rest of the contributors are all underclassmen. Twelve of Missouri's 20 swimmers are freshmen or sophomores.
The Mizzou men are in the same boat. Only seven of the Tigers 22 athletes are juniors and seniors.
FOUR TALENTED SWIMMERS SIGN LETTERS OF INTENT
The Missouri Tigers signed two women and two men to letters of intent in the early signing period. Highlighting the recruiting class as of date is St. Louis native REBECCA DAWSON. A product of the Rockwood Swim Club which has produced several Mizzou swimmers, Dawson is the defending state champion in the 100 butterfly and the runner up in the 200 individual medley. Dawson is regarded as one of the top swimmers in the state of Missouri.
Dawson will be joined by Tempe, Ariz. native LINDSAY PALBYKIN. Palbykin is the defending Arizona state champion in the 200 freestyle and a top-three finisher in the 100 free. She has only been swimming for three years.
On the men's side, the Tigers feel that they have found a diamond in the rough in Champaign, Ill. product RYAN SEARBY. An all-state football player, Searby will give up the helmet for goggles full-time as he is expected to help Missouri in the sprint free events.
Joining Searby is JOSH BOYD of Greenville, S.C. Boyd is a talented distance swimmer who along with current Tigers DANE PEDERSEN and STEPHEN DURLEY, will give the Tigers one of the deepest distance teams in the Big 12.