Feb. 28, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas - The Mizzou women's swimming and diving team (13-1, 3-1 Big 12) closed out day two action at the Big 12 Championships with a fourth-place score of 167.5. The Tigers trail leader Texas A&M (325), Texas (271) and Kansas (185.5) but lead Iowa State (124) and Nebraska (117). The team, just 18 points behind archrival Kansas, advanced six finalists, including a trio of top-fivers, in its second consecutive day of breaking a pair of school records.
"We had quite a few big swims today," Mizzou Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. "The women are continuing to step up and we're looking to keep this momentum going heading into the next two days."
At the close of the morning's preliminaries, five Tiger swimmers had advanced to the evening's finals. Junior Jill Granger and sophomore Colleen Gordon, both on Wednesday's school record-setting 800 free relay squad, swam their way into the championship finals of the 500 free in NCAA "B" cut times of 4:48.25 and 4:48.50, respectively. Their fellow 800 free relayer, freshman Francie Szostak, made the consolation final in a "B" time of 4:51.19.
Next up on the morning was the 200 IM, featuring the fourth member of the 800 free relay quartet in junior Lori Halvorson. The team co-captain and school record-holder clocked a "B" cut time of 2:03.39 to qualify for the championship final. Halvorson was the only Tiger to advance past the morning prelims.
The same was true for senior Taye Patterson in the 50 free. The Canadian posted a 23.78, just six-hundredths of a second off her personal best, to earn a spot in the consolation final.
In Thursday afternoon's 1-meter diving prelims, junior Kendra Melnychuk scored a six-dive total of 285.95 to qualify for the evening's finals. Melnychuk's score was the third-highest overall. Freshman Jenny Franzone missed the top-10 by just .05 points.
The evening's finals got underway with the finals of the 500 free. Gordon came out of the blocks on fire, maintaining the second spot throughout the first half of the race. The native Texan trailed off slightly in the latter half, but held on strong to finish fourth in a new school record time of 4:45.78. Fellow Texan Granger, Mizzou's former record-holder, paced herself throughout much of the race and kicked it up a gear when it counted, touching in an impressive time of 4:48.08. Teammate Szostak recorded a sixth-place finish in the consolation final in a time of 4:53.92. All three Tigers' times are "B" cuts.
Halvorson was up next on the blocks for the team in what was a very competitive 200 IM "A" final. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native charged hard down the stretch, finishing in a tie for seventh in another consideration time of 2:03.92.
Jumping into action in the following 50 free was Patterson, who sprinted to a time of 24.00 and a fourth-place finish in the consolation final.
The focus quickly turned to the adjacent diving well, where Tiger fans watched Melnychuk post a score of 283.25 to bring home the bronze in the 1-meter diving competition.
Halvorson and Patterson suited up once again, along with seniors Jill Bastien and Arica Jacinto, in the 400 medley relay to cap off day two in Austin. In a tight three-way battle for third down the stretch, the quartet combined for a school record and consideration time of 3:43.92 to finish fourth. The squad was edged by less than one-tenth of a second in shaving more than a second off the previous MU record.
The women get right back into the thick of it on Friday with swimming prelims set to begin at 10 a.m. and 3-meter diving prelims to follow at 11:30 a.m. Finals on the 3-meter board are scheduled for 5 p.m., with action in the pool kicking off an hour later. Fans can catch live results throughout the day on mutigers.com.
Friday's Order of Events
PRELIMINARIES
10 A.M.
200 Free Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
11:30 A.M.
Three-meter Diving (women)
2:15 P.M.
Three-meter Diving (men)
FINALS
5 P.M.
Three-meter Diving (women)
6 P.M.
200 Free Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
Three-meter Diving (men)