Dec. 12, 2001

COLUMBIA, Mo.- Missouri women's swimmer Sarah Lo and men's swimmer Matt Ferrarelli were tabbed National Swimmers of the Week by CollegeSwimming.com late Tuesday night. The award is voted on by a panel of collegiate swimming coaches.

Both Lo and Ferrarelli won four individual races in two days this past weekend. Lo, a sophomore from Whitby, Ontario, put together two dominating performances over the weekend in victories over Truman State and Southern Illinois. Against the Division II National Champion Bulldogs, Lo won the 100 backstroke and set a new MU Natatorium record with a time of 56.98. She also won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:04.76, just one-tenth of a second off the pool record. It was just the second time Lo had competed in the 100 breast all year.

On Saturday, Lo led off the 400 medley relay and helped the Tigers cruise to a win in a pool record time 3:51.13. She later won both the 200 individual medley (2:07.41) and the 200 backstroke (2:03.64).

Ferrarelli was on fire as usual for the Missouri men's team over the weekend. The junior from Retford Nott, England led the Tigers to victories over both Truman State and Southern Illinois. On Friday night, Ferrarelli won the 400 individual medley and broke his own pool record in a time of 3:55.81. Ferrarelli is the defending Big 12 Champion in that event. He also won the 100 backstroke in a time of 50.95.

Ferrarelli helped the Tigers build a big lead against Southern Illinois on Saturday. He led off the winning 400 medley relay, and came back later to win the 200 individual medley and the 200 backstroke.

"These are two real big awards, not only for Sarah (Lo) and Matt (Ferrarelli), but for the Missouri swimming and diving program as a whole," said Head Coach Brian Hoffer. "This is the kind of national attention that we are working to attain. Sarah and Matt are very deserving of this honor."