March 1, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas - Second place came down to the final relay at the Big 12 Championships as the Mizzou men's swimming and diving team (11-2, 1-0 Big 12) was edged by Texas A&M by a 778-775 margin. Texas won the conference championship with 1129 points. In the exciting fourth and final day of action, two Tigers medaled in the 1650 free.
"'I'm extremely proud of the way the guys competed over the past four days" Tiger Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. "We've come a long way this year, and the last several years. This team has maximized its potential and I think we're seeing the results. I would like to especially thank the seniors for providing the direction that this team will take in the coming years."
The 200 backstrokers kicked off the morning's preliminary action. Team co-captains Jake Hoffmann and Travis Floyd earned spots in the championship finals with lifetime best swims of 1:48.23 and 1:48.64, respectively. These times are the fifth and sixth fastest in school history. Fellow captain Joe Wilson recorded a time of 1:51.98 to nab a place in the consolation final.
Four Tigers qualified for consols in the following 100 free. Freshman Jordan Hawley earned the top seed in the `B' final with his time of 45.31, the seventh fastest in school history. Sophomore Dylan Lynn (45.94) and juniors Matt Dahlke (46.81) and Brad Hubbard (46.87) would join him.
Junior Ted Harris continued his impressive conference campaign with a third-place overall finish in the 200 breast (2:05.36). The Greenville, Illinois, native's time was just .03 seconds off his personal best. Sophomore Martin Cernansky captured fifth overall in a time of 2:08.47. Senior Brandon Lee's time of 2:11.27 rounded out the top eight.
In the morning's final prelim in the pool, junior Gilad Kaufman raced a 1:49.71 to finish seventh overall in the 200 fly. Freshman Spenser Lauver and senior Lex Howard qualified for consols in times of 1:51.85 and 2:09.03, respectively.
Platform diving was up next for the Tigers. Sophomore Greg DeStephen just missed second place with his score of 311.10. A trio of teammates followed, including senior David Boyko (290.80), freshman Dante Jones (283.80) and sophomore Ryan Meeker (270.35). Meeker's six-dive score was a lifetime best.
The divers trekked up the tower once again several hours later to open the meet's last session of finals. The Tigers followed up their prelim success with another strong showing in the well, placing four divers in the top six and posting three lifetime bests along the way. This time it was Jones leading the way, putting together some big dives in tallying a personal best score of 350.85, the second highest in program history. DeStephen (346.20) and Boyko (306.30) both dove career bests as well to take fourth and fifth, respectively. Meeker's score of 265.75 put him right behind in sxith.
First into the pool Saturday evening were the backstrokers, taking a 40 point lead along with them thanks to the Tiger divers. Floyd posted another lifetime best of 1:49.24 to take seventh, with Hoffmann touching in just behind in 1:49.30. Wilson (1:51.38) and sophomore Bobby Sundvold (1:53.39) finished second and third, respectively, in the `B' final.
The Tigers' lead had slipped to 38 points at the start of the 100 free consolation final. Hawley broke out for the fastest time of the bunch, his time of 44.87 now the third best in program history. Lynn recorded a 45.51 to take third, with Dahlke (46.44) finishing sixth and Hubbard (46.52) seventh.
Heading into the 1650 free, the Tigers were up by just 11. Sellers swam a strong race throughout, overtaking a Longhorn swimmer mid-race to finish with the silver in a time of 15:38.50. Lauver also went the distance, racing hard down the stretch to pass up the Longhorn and bring home the bronze with a time of 15:42.79. Both finishes are among the five fastest in school history.
The 200 breaststrokers now had a 17-point lead to work with. Cernansky touched in at 2:00.74 for fifth overall, with Harris (2:03.68) and Lee (2:09.06) rounding out the top eight.
The men were still up by a small margin on the brink of the 200 fly. Kaufman flew to a sixth-place overall finish in a time of 1:48.13, which ranks third all-time at Mizzou. Lauver (1:55.25) and Howard (2:06.16) taking the top spots in consols.
Down one heading into the meet-ending 400 free relay, the Tigers needed to finish second ahead of the Aggies to pull out the win. The quartet of Hawley, Lynn, Kaufman and Floyd raced to the very end, but came up short in a time of 3:00.80.
Although the conference meet has ended, Tiger fans can still catch a number of Tigers in action this post-season. The divers will head to Houston, Texas, March 14-16 for the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships, which represent a diver's only chance all season to qualify for this year's NCAA Championships set for March 27-29 in Federal Way, Wash. A number of Tiger swimmers having clocked NCAA "B" standard, or consideration, times will wait to see if they are selected to make the trip to the nation's Northwest. Stay tuned to mutigers.com for all the latest Tiger postseason action.
Those who have yet to get their fill of the Big 12 Championships can catch repeat television coverage of the event on Fox Sports Net's Midwest Network (FSN Midwest) Sunday at 2 p.m. CST and again on Monday at 12 p.m.