University of Missouri
Southern Illinois
Men's Swimming and Diving Fall to SIU-Carbondale
11/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 8, 2003
The University of Missouri men's swimming and diving teams were defeated by the SIU Salukis this afternoon by a score of 171-129. Despite several stand-out performances by the Tigers, they were unable to defeat the talented SIU squad.
For the second straight dual meet, the Missouri men's 400 medley relay team of Chris Lukas, Matt North, David Darmitzel and Tyler Belanger finished first to start off the meet. Following the relay, freshman Peter Willett finished second in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
In the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, sophomore Chris Lukas finished second. In the 100 backstroke he finished in 50.98 seconds and in the 200 backstroke he finished with a time of 1:53.01. Following Lukas in the 200 backstroke was senior Dustin McKnight finishing third and junior Jacob Thomas finishing fourth.
This year has been nothing shy of remarkable for junior Matt North. Over the summer, North qualified to compete in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and since the summer, North has taken his skills to a new level. Last weekend against Truman State, North shattered the MU pool record in the 200-yard breaststroke. This weekend he added to his record-setting year as he finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke and broke the SIU pool record in the event with his time of 55.43 seconds. North also finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke finishing in 2:20.50. North's times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke rank him second and fourth in Missouri's all-time top-five.
One of the men's teams most versatile swimmers, Dustin McKnight, had a very solid meet. McKnight finished second in the 200-yard butterfly and added a third place finish in the 200-yard backstroke.
Senior Tyler Belanger helped add to the Tigers score as he finished second in the 50-yard freestyle (22.12) and first in the 100-yard freestyle finishing in 47.07 seconds. In the 50 freestyle, Belanger slipped on the starting blocks at the beginning of the race, but was able to battle back and finish second.
In the diving well, sophomores Aaron Wionzek and Evan Watters dominated both boards. Watters finished first on the 1 and 3-meter and Wionzek came in second in both boards. With his score of 316.27 on the 1-meter board, Watters is third in the all-time top-five 1-meter diving scores. Watters score was also high enough to qualify him for the NCAA Diving Zone Championships. Wionzek's score was just .4 points off the NCAA qualifying mark.
In the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Jason Lyons finished third with a time of 4:45.99 and sophomore Wade Pennington added a fifth place finish.
In the 400 IM, Missouri finished 2-4-5 as Matt North finished second, Dustin McKnight finished fourth and Peter Willet finished fifth.
Up next for the men's team is the Indiana Invitational November 21-23 in Bloomington, Indiana.
Players Mentioned
