July 18, 2006
Central Section Region VIII Long Course Championship Info and Live Scoring
More than two dozen members of the Missouri swimming teams will participate in the 2006 Central Section Region VIII Long Course Summer Championships, hosted by the Columbia Swim Club at the Mizzou Aquatic Center Wednesday-Sunday.
A total of 55 teams and 544 swimmers from Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma are scheduled to compete. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. with event finals scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. the first four days and 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $6 per day or $20 for the entire week and tickets can be purchased at the Mizzou Rec Center, located at the intersection of Rollins and Hitt Streets.
Some of the notable entrants from Mizzou are Jill Bastien, Lori Halvorson, Shannon Hogan and Carly Sullivan on the women's side, and Bennett Clark, Travis Floyd, Justin Sellers and Alex Zasadny on the men's squad.
Bastien is a rising junior who will serve as a co-captain in 2006-07 and currently ranks among the top-5 at MU in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Halvorson was the Big 12 Co-Performer of the Year as a freshman last season and is the Tigers' school-record holder in the 200 free and 200 IM. Hogan was named team MVP in 2006 and holds the school record in the 50 free and is a member of the school-record holding 200 and 400 free relay teams. After prepping at Columbia's Rock Bridge High School, Sullivan posted top-5 times in the 1000 and 1650 free in her first year at MU in 2005-06.
Clark, who will be swimming for the Clayton Shaw Park team out of St. Louis, capped off his first year in Columbia with a school-record time in the 100 freestyle and Big 12 Performer of the Year accolades. Floyd is a rising junior who will serve as a co-captain in 2006-07. Sellers is scheduled to compete in five events and has the second-fastest qualifying time in the field in the 200 butterfly. Zasadny was named MU's Most Improved Swimmer last year and has experience at the national meet in previous years.
This marks the first time the MAC has hosted this particular meet and a USA Swimming meet of this caliber.