Oct. 31, 2003
Columbia, Mo. - From the very beginning of the meet, it didn't look good for the defending Division II national champion Truman State Bulldogs. The Missouri women won by a score of 126-78 as the Missouri men notched their first win of the season winning 127-78.
In the first event of the evening, the women's 400 medley relay team of Sarah Lo, Mariona Costa, Liz Schoborg and Lindsay Palbykin took an early lead as they finished in first place. The men followed the lead of the women in the 400 medley relay as the team of Chris Lukas, Matt North, David Darmitzel and Ryan Searby also finished first.
The distance event duo of senior Rebecca Wolfe and freshman Kim Gainey combined again as Wolfe finished first (10:23.66) and Gainey finished second (10:26.24) in the 1000-yard freestyle. For the men, seniors Eric Sullins and Dustin McKnight finished second and third in the 1000-yard freestyle.
Seniors Andrea Nigh and Tyler Belanger both finished first in the 50-yard freestyle event. Nigh was just .32 seconds off of setting a new pool record with her time of 24.00. Belanger, who took an early lead in his race, also narrowly missed the pool record by .4 seconds with his time of 20.99.
The Missouri women continued adding to their point total as they finished 1-2-3 in the 200 IM. Freshman Amy Charley has continued to show that she is ready for collegiate competition as she finished first in the event followed by sophomore Liz Schoborg and junior Megan Morford.
After the first 10 events, the women had a solid lead with the score at 73-20, but the men were still a little weary as they were only leading the Bulldogs 51-32.
Defending Big 12 Champion Rebecca Wolfe showed why she is the best in the conference as she finished first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:04.69. Junior Becca Dawson finished second with a time of 2:06.03.
The men, again following the lead of the women, finished 1-2 in the 200 butterfly. Sophomore David Darmitzel fininshed first as senior Dustin McKnight finished second.
Sprint freestylists, Nigh and Belanger, added another first place finish in the meet as they both finished first in the 100-yard freestyle. The men ended up finishing 1-2-3 in the event as Belanger finished first (47.14), freshman Jason Lyons finished second (47.80) and sophomore Dan Buhr rounded out the top-three with his time of 49.32.
In the 200-yard backstroke, the women had a much closer race than the men. Senior Sarah Lo led throughout the race and was able to hold of a late charge by Truman State's Lija Kaleps-Clark to finish first. Sophomore Chris Lukas took an early lead in the 200 backstroke and never looked back as he finished first with a time of 1:53.11. Sophomore Jacob Thomas finished second for the Tigers with his time of 1:56.48.
Freshman Kim Gainey has been thriving so far this season in distance events and tonight Gainey recorded her first collegiate victory as she finished first in the 500-yard freestyle. Fellow Tiger, senior Lizza Igoe, finished second.
The Missouri women, comfortable with their lead, decided to exhibition their last two events of the evening, the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
In the 200 breaststroke, junior Mariona Costa finished first and freshman Amy Charley finished third. In the 200 freestyle relay, the team of Liz Schoborg, Ellen Borgo, Amanda Morford and Andrea Nigh finished first.
The men, however, decided that weren't quite content with their lead and wanted to score some insurance point in their next two events.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, junior Matt North fired off the starting blocks and took an early lead as he finished first (2:03.14) setting a new University Natatorium record and shattering the old pool record of 2:05.3. Senior Chris Musfeldt finished second.
In the last event of the night the Tiger men took an early lead in the 200 freestyle relay and held on to win as the crew of Chris Lukas, Dan Buhr, Jason Lyons and Tyler Belanger finished first.
The women, who are now 2-2 for the year, compete again tomorrow afternoon against Border War rival, Kansas, in Lawrence. The next meet for the men, now 1-1 on the season, is Nov. 8 at 1:00 pm against Southern Illinios University-Carbondale in Carbondale, Ill.