Feb. 21, 2001
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MISSOURI AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Missouri Tigers enter the 2001 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships with nothing to lose and plenty to gain. The Tigers know that points will be hard to come by with the likes of defending national champion Texas and nationally-ranked Texas A&M expected to accumulate the majority of the points. What the Tigers are hoping for is a number of lifetime-best swims, a chance to break out of the sixth spot in the conference and the possiblility of getting a few swimmers to the NCAA Championship Meet.
Missouri has accumulated over 300 points in each of the last four Big 12 Championship meets. Its' highest point total was 326 in 1998.
A LOOK BACK AT THE 2000 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Missouri scored 301 points at the 2000 Big 12 Championship meet and finished sixth. That may not sound great, but considering that Texas scored a meet record 1007 points and Missouri did post a number of the top swims in school history, the meet was actually a solid one for the Tigers.
Missouri was led by freshman MATT FERRARELLI, who gave his Big 12 Conference opponents a glimpse of the future throughout the meet. Ferrarelli finished sixth in the 200 individual medley, posting a school-record time of 1:50.19, a time that he has lowered considerably in 2001. His best finish came in the 400 IM where he placed fourth. Two of three swimmers to finish ahead of Ferrarelli, Nebraska's Michael Windisch and Val Kalmikovs, both seniors, were Olympians in Sydney this past summer. Ferrarelli's time was 3:53.80, an NCAA consideration cut time. Like the 200 IM, Ferrarelli has lowered that time considerably in 2001.
Ferrarelli also reached the finals and placed sixth in the 200 backstroke.
AARON LO swam his way into the finals of the 100 breaststroke. Lo finished seventh in the event in a time of 56.31 seconds.
Missouri's other two finalists were in the platform diving event. Freshmen divers JAMIE SWEENEY and JASON OTTE finished sixth and eighth respectively for Missouri, both competing on the platform for the first time in their collegiate careers.
TIGERS IMPRESSIVE DURING DUAL SEASON
The Missouri Tigers enjoyed an excellent dual meet season, going 6-3 on the year. In Mizzou's three losses against Wyoming, Iowa State and Nebraska, the Tigers were in each of those meets until the very end.
In the loss of against Wyoming, Missouri was right in the middle of heavy Christmas training while Wyoming was coming out of its' training cycle, making them the fresher team. In losses against Iowa and Nebraska, the Tigers gave themselves a chance heading into the final three events, but the depth of the two Big 12 powers seemed to be the difference in the end.
Missouri dominated its' opponents in its' six dual wins. The lowest margin of victory for the Tigers was 29 against Southwest Missouri State, 135-106.
The Tigers were posted an impressive victory at the Arkansas Invite, downing a solid Drury College team in a very fast meet, 1264-1250.
MATT FERRARELLI was dominant during the dual meet season. The sophomore, who was named the Big 12 Swimmer of the Month in December, won 15 of 17 dual races he swam.
Senior MIKE CERVENKA was dominant in January, particularly in the 200 freestyle. Cervenka won all five of his dual meet races in the 200 freestyle in the months of January and February.
TIGERS ARE A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
It isn't too hard to figure out why the Missouri Tigers are excited about the direction the men's program is going. When breaking down the MU roster, the Tigers feature just three seniors and three juniors. The remaining 15 swimmers and divers are freshmen and sophomores.
Seven of those freshmen and sophomores will account for a considerable amount of Missouri's point total at this year's Big 12 Championships.
HOFFER RECORDS 100th CAREER VICTORY
To say that Head Coach BRIAN HOFFER has revived a program that was seemingly on its last legs when he took over in 1992 is a major understatement. On Jan. 13 in Kirksville, Mo., Hoffer recorded the 100th coaching victory of his career (men and women combined) in a double-dual meet vs. Northern Iowa and Truman State. He now owns a career coaching record of 106-86.
Hoffer has done wonders in building the men's program over the last four years. With this year's 6-3 dual record, the men are at .500 in wins and losses for the first time under Hoffer. The Tigers are 46-46 in the last nine seasons and 23-12 in the last four years.
DIVERS GET MISSOURI OFF TO GOOD START
Due to the timing of the NCAA Zone Diving Meet, the men's diving competitions took place during the women's Big 12 meet. The points will count towards the men's scores.
Sophomore divers JAMIE SWEENEY and JASON OTTE both performed very well. On the one-meter board, Sweeney and Otte became the first Tiger duo to ever place in the top eight in diving since the inception of the Big 12 Conference. Sweeney turned in a solid fifth place performance while Otte finished sixth.
Despite not making it into the finals of the three-meter competition, Otte and Sweeney took first and second respectively in the consolation competition and ninth and tenth overall.
Sweeney and Otte came back and put up big numbers on the platform. Sweeney finished in sixth place and Otte took seventh to give the MU men a very good start when the swimming competition begins.
Together, the MU divers produced 68 points.
NATIONALLY-RANKED TIGERS
Sophomores MATT FERRARELLI and RADU MICLAUS both have shots at becoming Missouri's first male swimmers to qualify for the NCAA Championships since the 1995 season. Ferrarelli is nationally ranked in three events while Miclaus is ranked in one.
Ferrarelli enters the Big 12 Championships ranked fourth in the nation in the 400 individual medley. He is ninth in the 200 IM and 23rd in the 200 backstroke. Ferrarelli has a chance to to qualify in all three events.
Miclaus is ranked 30th in the country in the 200 butterfly. He will have to lower his season-best time of 1:48.33 in order to qualify.
TIGERS MAKE THE GRADE
Six Missouri Tigers made the Student-Athlete Dean's List during the fall semester. BERT BAIOTTO, STEPHEN DARMITZEL, MATT FERRARELL, DAN KNUDSON, RADU MICLAUS and ERIC SULLINS made the list while Ferrarelli posted a perfect 4.0 GPA.