March 19, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo.- Amanda Morford has never competed at Senior Nationals, let alone the NCAA Championships. The freshman from Baldwin, Kan. will be on the biggest stage of them all this weekend at the Jamail Swimming Center in Austin, Texas on the campus of the University of Texas. Morford will compete on Friday morning in the 100 backstroke and Saturday in the 200 backstroke.

Morford qualified for the NCAA Championships after finishing in third place in the 100 backstroke at the Big 12 Championships in College Station, Texas. Her time of 55.53 broke a personal-best by over three seconds and broke the Missouri school record.

Morford is not expected to finish in the upper echlon of the NCAA Championships this week, but what she has done so far this season was totallly unexpected. Morford, and her identical twin, Megan, both signed with Missouri after visiting just one other school, the University of Iowa. Neither swimmers were highly recruited, and both swimmers are two of the biggest surprises that Head Coach Brian Hoffer has ever coached.

"Amanda has certainly been a great surprise," said Head Coach Brian Hoffer. "I could have never expected Amanda to qualify for the NCAA Championships when this season started, but she has worked so hard and deserves to be among the top backstroke swimmers in the country."