Jan. 28, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Missouri men's swimming and diving team (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) remained on pace to break even at the Shamrock Open after a solid performance this morning in the meet's second session. The Tigers currently lead Louisville, 160-78, and Oakland, 154.5-82.5, while trailing No. 19 Notre Dame, 147-92, and No. 21 Penn State, 141-98.
"We swam a lot better this morning than we did last night," Mizzou head coach Brian Hoffer said. "Our energy was better and our times were better. Guys were really getting behind each other, which is great to see."
After securing only three top-five finishes in Friday evening's session, eight Tiger men produced swims that placed them in the top-five of individual events on Saturday morning.
In five individual events held on Saturday morning, the Tigers twice placed three swimmers in the top six spots, taking the fourth, fifth and sixth places in both the 100 fly and 100 back. Sophomore Alex Zasadny took fourth in the 100 fly (51.04), while classmate Lex Howard placed fifth (51.38) and senior Garrett McCaffrey finished sixth (51.48). In the 100 back, senior Chris Lukas placed fourth (51.09), McCaffrey claimed fifth (51.50) and sophomore Travis Floyd rounded out the trio with a sixth-place finish (51.74).
Sophomore Bennett Clark earned the Tigers' top finish for the second time in as many days, taking runner-up honors in the 200 free with a time of 1:41.82. Freshman Brad Hubbard joined Clark in the top five of that event, touching in fifth with a time of 1:42.44.
Senior co-captain David Darmitzel took fourth in the 400 IM, with a time of 4:04.24, while sophomore Brandon Lee's time of 4:04.85 in the same event was good for fifth.
Darmitzel also turned in a seventh-place time of 59.13 in the 100 breast, followed closely by freshman Andrew Mondul, the ninth-place finisher with a time of 59.58.
Diving will be held today at 1 p.m. CT, with the 1650 free scheduled to start shortly after the completion of the diving competition. The meet's remaining swimming events will be contested this evening.
"We may not have won an event yet, but we're swimming well," Hoffer said. "One of our goals for tonight is to get a win, but we need to stay focused on ourselves and what we have to do in the water."
Results and recap will be posted on www.mutigers.com at the completion of the final session.