Nov. 24, 2003
Bloomington, Indiana - After three days of competition, the University of Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished in third place at the Indiana Invitational. The men finished third behind #18 Pittsburgh and #24 Indiana while the women finished third behind #13 Indiana and Pittsburgh.
Heading into the third day of competition the Missouri men had solid control of third place, while the women were only nine points behind Pittsburgh for second place.
For the women:
Senior Andrea Nigh started the last day of competition off well as she finished seventh in the 100-meter freestyle with her time of 57.72. Sophomore Liz Schoborg and junior Lindsay Palbykin finished in the top-15 also scoring points for the Tigers.
In the 200-meter backstroke senior Sarah Lo finished in fourth with a time of 2:17.04. Lo's time qualified her to compete in the Canadian Olympic trials this summer. Junior Amanda Morford finished eighth in the championship finals and senior Shannon Hollsten set a new personal best in the 200 backstroke preliminary heat and went on to finish 12th in the finals.
Though she'll tell you she's not pleased with the way she has been swimming, junior Mariona Costa had an excellent showing in the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke. Costa finished second in the 200 breast and her time of 2:33.51 has provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships. Sarah Lo and senior Ellen Borgo also scored for the Tigers as they finished ninth and 11th.
Coming into the 200-meter butterfly all eyes were on Missouri senior Rebecca Wolfe. Last season Wolfe won the 200 butterfly at the Big 12 Championships and qualified for the NCAA Championships. In the preliminary heat Wolfe finished nearly three seconds ahead of her nearest competition. In the finals, Wolfe came on strong at the end and finished first with her time of 2:15.97.
Junior Becca Dawson finished fourth in the 200 butterfly. Junior Belinda Wood, senior Lizza Igoe and sophomore Liz Schoborg rounded out the top-15 for the Tigers in the 200 butterfly.
For the men:
Senior Tyler Belanger and sophomore Chris Lukas both competed in the finals in the 100-meter freestyle; Belanger placed second and Lukas eighth. Senior Chris Musfeldt finished in the top-15 adding to the Tigers point total.
Backstroke extraordinaire, Chris Lukas, came into the finals of the 200-meter backstroke seeded second behind Pittsburgh's Jeff Leath. The seeding obviously didn't matter to Lukas at all as he passed Leath on the final stretch and claimed first place. Lukas' time places him second in the Mizzou all-time top-five.
Freshman Jason Lyons, sophomore David Darmitzel and junior Jacob Thomas all scored for the Tigers in the 200 back in addition to Lukas' finish. Lyons and Darmitzel both set new personal bests in the 200 backstroke as well.
When he's out of the pool junior Matt North may be very soft spoken and shy, but once you put him in the water he makes sure that you know he is present. In the meet prior to this weekend, North provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 100-yard breaststroke. This weekend North went ahead and provisionally qualified himself for the 200 breaststroke as well as he finished second in the finals.
Chris Musfledt also scored in the championship finals. Freshman Peter Willett, senior Stephen Darmitzel and freshman Nate Zabel all finished top-15 and scored points in the 200-meter breaststroke.
David Darmitzel may have had the best meet of his college career this weekend. David set five new personal bests throughout the course of the weekend: 200 and 400 IM, 100 and 200 butterfly and the 200 backstroke.
In the 200 butterfly, Darmitzel finished eighth in the Championship final and senior Dustin McKnight finished 12th boosting the Tiger point total.
In the final event of the weekend, Missouri finished fourth and ninth in the 400-meter freestyle relay.
Notes: - Over the course of the weekend, Missouri swimmers set 62 new personal bests.
- Sarah Lo qualified to compete in the Canadian Olympic Trials in six events.
- Chris Lukas qualified to compete in the Canadian Olympic Trials in the 100-meter backstroke.
- Matt North and Mariona Costa have both provisionally qualified to compete in the 2004 NCAA Championships.
- After hitting the board on the first day of competition on the 3-meter board, but still finishing second, MU diver Evan Watters went on to finish first on the 1-meter board and second in the tower events.
- Rebecca Wolfe, Chris Lukas and Evan Watters all had first place finishes for the Tigers.