Feb. 23, 2005

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Missouri men's swimming and diving team, on the strength of a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, ended the first night of competition at the 2005 Big 12 Championships in second place.

The team of junior Garrett McCaffrey, senior Matt North, senior Chris McCrary and freshman Bennett Clark touched in second in a time of 1:30.86, the fifth fastest in school history in the event. Texas' top squad touched in first, while Texas A&M's A team was disqualified.

"We went about what I thought we'd go," Missouri head coach Brian Hoffer said. "We were excited to swim a fast relay and get some momentum early."

In the 800 freestyle relay, the combination of sophomore Peter Willett, junior Dan Buhr and freshmen Travis Floyd and Brandon Lee notched a third-place finish, in a time of 6:47.89, to round out a strong opening night for the Tiger men.

"I was pleased with the 800 free relay," Hoffer said. "There were no seniors in the team that finished third and they turned in a time that's within five seconds of the school record."

Texas leads the meet, with 80 points, after the opening night, but Mizzou is in striking distance with 66. Texas A&M is currently in third with 34 points.

The Tiger women finished a competitive first night in fourth place, only 12 points behind second-place Texas A&M.

The team of seniors Amanda Morford and Mariona Costa, junior Liz Schoborg and sophomore Shannon Hogan recorded the second-fastest time in school history (1:43.76) in the 200 medley relay to get the Tigers on the board with an early fourth-place finish.

"We swam a very fast 200 medley relay," Hoffer said. "We had a strong team and they came out with a big performance."

The 800 free relay team of senior Lindsay Palybykin, freshman Taye Patterson, sophomore Kim Gainey and Morford claimed a sixth-place finish (7:36.42) to give the Tigers another 26 points and close out the first night of meet.

"That was a weak event for us, and we knew that going in," Hoffer said. "We're happy with the result and we have a lot more swimming to do."

Texas currently leads the women's side with 80 points, but only 24 points separate the Longhorns from fourth-place Mizzou.

Preliminaries begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. and finals commence at 6:00 p.m.