MU Freshman Dante JonesMU Freshman Dante Jones
Swimming & Diving

Cernansky and Jones Earn Weekly Conference Honors

Oct. 24, 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Big 12 Conference announced Wednesday that University of Missouri sophomore Martin Cernansky and freshman Dante Jones won the conference's first Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards, respectively, of the 2007-08 season. This is the first weekly award for both Tigers.

Sophomore standout Martin Cernansky boasts three individual wins on the young season. The Austrian began 2007-08 with a win in the 200 breast vs. Indiana in a time of 2:01.89 and then returned to the pool a day later to earn his second win of the weekend in the 100 breast (56.72) at the Show Me Showdown. Cernansky continued his hot streak with a victory in the 200 IM (1:54.32) in last week's dual triumph over conference rival Texas A&M.

Columbia native Dante Jones has also come up big for the Tigers in his freshman campaign. Jones recorded a winning score of 312.45 on the 1-meter board in his collegiate debut against national diving powerhouse Indiana and followed this up with a NCAA Zone qualifying score of 244.90 on the 3-meter board at the Show Me Showdown the next day.

On the women's side, junior Kendra Melnychuk earned her third career Big 12 Diver of the Week award on Wednesday. She was also named the conference's Diver of the Week for meets Nov. 27-Dec. 10 and Jan. 22-Feb. 4 last season. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native opened the 2007-08 season with a victory in the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 307.13. Melnychuk lit up the diving well the following day at the Show Me Showdown with another win on the 3-meter board (270.80) and then led Mizzou to gold in the 1-meter diving scramble competition. After qualifying for NCAA Zones at the Showdown, Melnychuk returned to the well for wins on both the 1- (279.35) and 3-meter boards (278.10) against defending Big 12 Champion, Texas A&M.

Cernansky, Jones and the Mizzou men return to action at the Mizzou Dual Challenge, Nov. 2-4, at the Mizzou Aquatics Center. Melnychuk and the Tiger women travel to Lawrence, Kan., for a dual matchup with the rival Jayhawks on Friday at 6 p.m.