Dec. 1, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas - Freshman Lori Halvorson got the day off to a good start for the Missouri swimming and diving team when she turned in a school-record 2:02.97 in the women's 200 IM prelims, qualifying for finals in the eighth position.
Sophomore Brandon Lee and freshman Bryan Difford saw to it that the night would be just as productive. Lee turned in a time of 4:32.23 in the men's 500 free to claim the fourth spot in the school's all-time top-five in that event, while Difford went on to post a 1:51.45 in the men's 200 IM to earn the fifth spot in the Mizzou annals.
"Lori's swim in the morning was phenomenal," Mizzou head coach Brian Hoffer said. "Brandon and Bryan also had really good swims tonight. We didn't come here for points. We came here to race and I'm really happy to see fast times like those."
Halvorson was the top individual finisher of the evening on the women's side for the Tigers, following up her morning swim with a 2:03.17 in the women's 200 IM final to place eighth. Difford turned in the best finish for the Tiger men, cashing in his top-five all-time swim for an 11th-place finish.
The women's 200 free relay team of junior Shannon Hogan, Halvorson, sophomore Katie Gates and senior captain Liz Schoborg garnered an eighth-place finish with a time of 1:34.56. The men's 400 medley relay team of senior Garrett McCaffrey, junior Nate Zabel, sophomore Lex Howard and sophomore Bennett Clark capped the night off for the Tigers, finishing 13th in a time of 3:23.15.
Despite swimming against a bevy of ranked competition, several Tigers swam well enough in finals to place in the top 20 of their individual events: Hogan placed 15th in the women's 50 free (23.41), freshman Jill Granger placed 16th in the women's 500 free (4:59.64), sophomore Bennett Clark placed 18th in the men's 50 free (20.50), senior captain David Darmitzel placed 18th in the men's 200 IM (1:52.89), Howard placed 20th in the men's 100 fly (49.79) and Schoborg placed 20th in the women's 100 fly (56.11).
Freshman diver Kendra Melnychuk also placed ninth on the women's 1-meter board (225.60), just one spot out of the finals.
"We're facing some of the toughest competition in the country at this meet," Hoffer said. "We had some solid swims today, including some lifetime bests. I thought we came out really well this morning and did some things."
Three Mizzou swimmers managed to swim to lifetime bests on the first day of the Texas Invite. Howard and fellow sophomore Alex Zasadny went 49.46 and 49.97, respectively, in the men's 100 fly prelims - the first time either has broken the 50-second mark in the event. On the women's side, junior captain Amy Charley swam the 200 IM in 2:05.27, besting her career time by almost two seconds.
"As a coach, you're happy anytime someone goes a lifetime best," Hoffer said. "It's exciting for the person and it gets the rest of the team excited. Those were big swims."
The anchor legs on both the men's and women's 400 medley relay produced swims that Tiger fans may want to take note of. On the men's side, Clark swam the 100-free leg in 44.35, a time that would have been a school record had it been an individual event or had he swam the lead leg. Freshman Lauren Cox also turned in what would have been an historic swim on the anchor leg of the women's relay. Cox brought the squad home in a split of 51.09, which would have been good for second in school history.
"I'm very pleased with how we performed today," Hoffer said. "We came here to race some people, and I'm happy that we're competing at a high level. We have two more days to go, so we'll see what we can do tomorrow and Saturday."
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.
Team results were not available at the time of publication, but can be found at a later time by clicking on the link above.