Dec. 2, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas - The final event of the evening turned out to be the best for the Missouri swimming and diving team, as the quartet of sophomore Bennett Clark, freshman Brad Hubbard, sophomore Alex Zasadny and freshman Jake Hoffmann surged to a school record and an eighth-place finish in the men's 800 free relay. Their time of 6:41.76 broke a 24-year old school record - the oldest on the Mizzou books - by almost a full second (6:42.50 in 1981 by Hammergren, Rohlfing, Halliburton and Berg). In addition, Clark's leadoff split of 1:39.20 puts his name in third-place in school history.
Swimming just before the men, the team of freshman Lauren Cox, freshman Jill Granger, freshman Lori Halvorson and junior Shannon Hogan just short of a school record of their own in the 800 free relay. The squad swam the event in 7:26.86, good for a seventh-place finish and the second-fastest time in school history.
"It was a little crazy during the last relay because we had two pools going at once and the coaching staff was split up and trying to communicate with each other about two tremendous swims," Mizzou head coach Brian Hoffer said. "The men had really focused in on that record and they are extremely proud that they were able to achieve it. They've met the guys who owned that record before them and they realize just how high of a standard was set."
Two Tiger swimmers managed to post Mizzou all-time top-five times in individual events on Friday night. Sophomore Jill Bastien entered the top-five in the women's 100 breast with a 1:04.69 in prelims, only to better her mark with a 1:04.30 in the finals. Halvorson, fresh off of a school-record performance in the women's 200 IM on Thursday, claimed the fifth spot in school history in the 100 back with a 56.97 in the evening session.
Freshman diver Kendra Melnychuk was the highest-placing Mizzou athlete on Friday, scoring a 280.10 on the women's 3-meter board to finish sixth.
A host of other Tiger swimmers turned in top-20 performances in individual events Friday night. Sophomore Brandon Lee finished 14th in the men's 400 IM with a time of 4:00.65, and he was followed closely by senior captain David Darmitzel in the 15th spot (4:00.74); Granger carded a 15th-place finish in the women's 400 IM with a time of 4:30.36 (4:29.55 in prelims). Bastien's top-five all-time swim in the women's 100 breast earned her 15th place in the event, and Halvorson's effort in the 100 back snuck her into the top20.
Hogan earned a 21st-place finish in the women's 100 back with a time of 57.28, and senior Garrett McCaffrey placed 23rd in the men's edition with a 50.78 (50.68 in prelims). Junior Nate Zabel secured 26th in the men's 100 breast with a time of 57.53, and Hubbard turned in a lifetime-best 1:40.22 in the men's 200 free.
"This was just one of those nights you hope to have at a meet like this," Hoffer said. "Our IM's were great, especially on the men's side, and we got some solid swims in the 200 free. We had some great swims today, like Jill Bastien in the 100 breast, and we've never had Nate Zabel under the 58-second mark in the 100 breast this early in the season."
For real-time results throughout the meet, visit The 2005 Texas Invite. For all the latest on Mizzou swimming and diving, visit www.mutigers.com.
UT Invite - 12/1/2005 to 12/3/2005
Team Rankings - Through Event 28
Women - Team Scores Place School Points =================================================================== 1 The University of Texas TEXAS 513 2 University of Arizona UA 481 3 Univ. of Southern California USC 397 4 University of Wisconsin UW 387 5 Arizona State University ASU 203 6 University of Hawai`i UH 186 7 University of the Pacific PAC 108 8 University of Missouri MIZZ 97 9 Univ of Cal Santa Barbara UCSB 89 10 University of Houston HOU 57 11 Texas Christian University TCU 53 12 Stanford University STAN 33 13 Tulane University TUL 28 14 University of Wyoming UWY 24
Men - Team Scores Place School Points =================================================================== 1 The University of Texas TEXAS 462 2 University of Arizona UA 447 3 The University of Michigan UMICH 351 4 The University of California CAL 336 5 Univ. of Southern California USC 323 6 Arizona State University ASU 136 7 University of Hawai`i UH 103 8 University of Wisconsin UW 79 9 University of Missouri MIZZ 71 10 University of the Pacific PAC 64 11 Stanford University STAN 57 12 Univ of Cal Santa Barbara UCSB 52 13 Texas Christian University TCU 43 14 University of Wyoming UWY 38 15 University of Denver UD 35