Jan. 28, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Coming off of a morning session in which they notched eight top-five finishes, the Missouri men's swimming and diving team (5-2, 1-0 Big 12) held the course and picked up two wins at the Shamrock Invite. The Tigers picked up wins over Louisville, 252-116, and Oakland, 229.5-137.5, while falling to No. 19 Notre Dame, 226-144, and No. 21 Penn State, 222-148.
"The teams that were supposed to beat us did so, but we swam hard this weekend," Mizzou head coach Brian Hoffer said. "We showed our depth in getting two wins, and we gained some great experience at tough road meet."
Sophomore Bennett Clark highlighted the meet for the Tigers, rounding out his meet on Saturday evening with a runner-up finish in the 100 free with a time of XX - his in-season collegiate best. That swim combined with second-place showings in the 50 and 200 free to give Clark three runner-up efforts on the weekend.
"Bennett was dominating for us in the freestyle events this weekend," Hoffer said. "He really stepped up and showed that he was one of the best freestylers at the meet."
Two other Tiger men joined Clark with runner-up status on Saturday evening. Senior diver Evan Watters placed second on the 3-meter board with a score of 326.70, and sophomore Alex Zasadny claimed second in the 200 fly with a time of 1:53.54.
Two events in particular - the 1650 free and the 200 fly - proved to be productive for the Tigers in the meet's third session. Aside from Zasadny's second-place finish, sophomore Justin Sellers took sixth (1:54.28) and freshman Gilad Kaufman placed eighth (1:54.51) in the event. In the mile, sophomore Brandon Lee took seventh (16:12.30), sophomore Thomas Baumann touched in seventh (16:22.66) and freshman Jake Hoffmann snuck into the last spot in the top-10 (16:27.96).
Senior Chris Lukas finished a strong weekend with a fifth-place finish in the 200 back (1:51.81), tapping out classmate Garrett McCaffrey, who took sixth, by just .01.
In the 200 breast, freshman Andrew Mondul placed seventh (2:08.34) and senior co-captain David Darmitzel took 10th (2:10.32).
"Our guys are pretty tired right now, but we really pulled together this weekend," Hoffer said. "We had a rough Friday night, but we didn't give up and we got better every session. Swimming at a meet like this isn't easy, but our energy was great and we challenged each other."
The Mizzou men and women will both be in the water this Friday, Feb. 3, when they travel to Springfield, Mo., to take on Drury.