Jan. 14, 2005
Kirksville, Mo. - The University of Missouri men's swim team returned to action successfully tonight after its annual training camp trip to Arizona for semester break by sweeping a pair of duals against Truman State and South Dakota. The Tiger did it in dominating fashion, as they bounced host Truman State by a 130-71 score, and then trounced South Dakota by a 148-53 count.
The Tiger men dominated from start to finish, as every single event contested on the night had a Tiger swimmer finish first. The men also established three pool records on the way to their sweep. Senior Matt North claimed the 200 breaststroke event in a pool record time of 2:06.32, while the MU relay teams in the 400 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay both won in pool record times of 3:24.8 and 3:06.67, respectively. Those teams were comprised of Chris Lukas, Matt North, Chris McCrary and Bennett Clark in the former and McCrary, Clark, Travis Floyd and Lukas in the latter.
The story of the night was possibly the Tiger freshmen class, as four rookies won events for Head Coach Brian Hoffer. Travis Floyd claimed the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:52.80, while fellow freshmen Lex Howard in the 200 butterfly (1:55.43), Brandon Lee in the 500 freestyle (4:45.84) and Thomas Baumann in the 1,000 freestyle (9:57.7) all followed suit.
Columbia native Peter Willett also swam well, as the sophomore from Hickman High School won the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:43.58.
"The men really stepped up tonight," said Hoffer. "Our freshmen were incredible. For freshmen to win races in college, that's outstanding, it's just not very easy to do. I was pleased for Matt (North) and the relays to get the pool records - 3:06 (in the 400 free relay) is really fast for us, we haven't done that in a few years. With all the freshmen contributing like that, I feel very good about the future," he said.
With no time to rest, the Tiger men return to Columbia to swim in a dual meet Saturday afternoon against Southwest Missouri State. The meet is set for a 2 p.m. start at the MU Natatorium. There is no admission fee for the event.