Tigers Hit the Road to Take on Kentucky Wildcats
12/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 6, 2002
COLUMBIA, Mo. -
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The University of Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving team travel to Lexington, Kentucky to take on the University of Kentucky Wildcats in a nonconference dual meet on December 7 in the Lancaster Aquatic Center at 11:00 a.m.
The Wildcats men's and women's swimming teams are coming off fourth and sixth place finishes at the Nike Cup Invitational. The men's and women's diving teams competed at the Indiana Invitational.
The Kentucky men's team returns the nucleus of a team that finished 16th at the NCAA Championships, their best finish in school history. Junior Joey Faltraco and freshman Steven Manley are the top swimmers for the Wildcats.
Faltraco holds the third fastest time in the 400 individual medley (3:52.49) and the fourth fastest times in both the 200 backstroke (1:44.23) and 200 butterfly (1:47.21). Manley is fourth in the nation in the 200 freestyle (1:37.91). All five of the Wildcat's relay teams times rank in the top 15 in the country.
The Kentucky women's team is a young team that is loaded with potential. Wildcat Head Coach Gary Conelly expects big things from his women's team, so far this season they haven't disappointed. Sophomore Chrissy Miller is the top swimmer, she currently holds the 12th-fastest time in the 500 freestyle (4:49.01) and 16th-fastest in the 200 (1:49.62).
Perhaps the strength of both the Wildcats teams are the diving teams. The men's team only has two divers. However one of the divers, senior Clayton Moss, is a five-time NCAA All-American. Last season he was the runner-up in the 1-Meter at the NCAA Championships. Senior Kelli Frost and UCLA transfer Michelle Brown are the top women divers. Brown is coming off a fifth place finish on the platform at the Indiana Invitational.
This will be the first time in both the Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving history that they will face Kentucky in dual meet competition.
POLL VAULTING The latest College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) women's top 25 dual meet poll has the lady Tiger's team ranked 19th in the country. The ranking is the highest in the 26-year history of the Missouri women's swimming and diving program.
Last season the women's team cracked the top 25 for the first time in their history. They were ranked #25 in the last dual meet poll of the 2001-02 season. This season they cracked the preseason poll at #21 where they stayed until last week when they moved up to #20.
The Tigers received 56 votes, just three behind #18 Michigan. Auburn remained at #1 with Florida, Georgia, Stanford and Southern California rounding out the top five. Including Missouri three Big 12 teams are represented in the poll with Texas (#7) and Texas A&M (#22) the other conference representatives.
..AND GOING, AND GOING Currently the women's swimming and diving team are riding a winning streak of 17 straight dual meet victories heading into their matchup with the Kentucky Wildcats. The team is 7-0 this season in dual meets. Last season the women's team went 9-0 in dual meets.The streak dates back to February 3, 2001 with a 135-87 victory against the University of Evansville.
STREAK FACTS *The head coach of Evansville at the start of the streak was Clark Campbell, who is now the head coach of conference rival Kansas.
*The last time the Tigers lost in a dual meet was a 130-112 setback against Nebraska on January 26, 2001 in Lincoln, Neb.
*Interestingly enough, two current Tigers contributed to that lost. Juniors Molly Christensen and Rebecca Wolfe were both members of the Cornhusker team as freshmen. Wolfe won the 1000 freestyle and placed second in the 100 butterfly and as a member of the 200 freestyle relay team. Christensen finished sixth in the 100 backstroke. Both transferred to Mizzou after the 2001 season.
*The Tiger sophomore class has never experienced a dual meet defeat. They are 16-0, including going 9-0 last season as freshmen.
*The Tigers streak is currently the second longest active streak of division I teams in the top 25. #1 Auburn holds the longest current dual meet winning streak, they have won 29 in a row.
A CASE OF STUDENT BECOMING THE TEACHER When Tiger diving coach Greg Triefenbach was a diver at Lousiana State University, his diving coach was the legendary Michael Lyden. Lyden coached Triefenbach to All-American status five times and SEC champion two times during his time at LSU.
After his diving career was over, Triefenbach served as Lyden's assistant to the LSU diving team.Triefenbach left LSU for Virginia Tech and Lyden left LSU for Kentucky in 1993.
Both have remained close and saturday they will compete against each other for the first time. A match-up of two successful diving programs with two successful coaches at the helm.
