March 28, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas - Senior Matt Ferrarelli closed his Tiger swimming career in grand fashion. Ferrarelli became the first NCAA qualifier to score team points under head coach Brian Hoffer. Ferrarelli scored four team points for the Tigers with his 13th place finish in the 400 individual medley at the 2003 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas. He finished with a time of 3:50.22, three seconds off his school record time of 3:47.38 set during the 2001 season.
"It would have been nice to see Matt break his school record in his last meet," said Hoffer. "But for him to get at this level and compete with the top swimmers in the nation and score points shows the type of competitor that he is. I'm very proud of him."
A two-time NCAA qualifier, Ferrarelli swam a 3:49.67 in the morning preliminaries to place him in the top-16 400 individual medley swimmers in the country. The last Missouri swimmer to score at the NCAAs was Kevin DeForrest in 1979.
Ferrarelli, a Doncaster, England native, qualified for this years NCAAs in two individual events. On Thursday, Ferrarelli finished 21st in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:47.97.
Ferrarelli's list of accomplishments as a Tiger include; he is the school record holder in the 200 backstroke (1:46.57) and both the 200 (1:47.45) and 400 (3:47.38) individual medleys and was a member of the school record holding 400 freestyle relay team (3:00.52), he is a two time Big 12 Champion in the 400 IM, three-time Academic All-Big 12, a CSCAA Academic All-American and two-time Collegeswimming.com National Swimmer of the Week.
"He's a perfect example of the direction that our men's program is going," said Hoffer " It's a great way for Matt to end his Mizzou career. He deserves everything that he has been given and it has been pleasure coaching him the past four years."