Nov. 6, 2008
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The No. 20 Missouri Tigers men's swimming and diving team (1-0, 1-0 Big 12) returns to action on Friday, Nov. 7, heading to Carbondale, Ill., to take on the Southern Illinois Salukis (2-0) after a two-week hiatus. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. CT.
Scouting Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois enters the meet with a 2-0 record on the season. They opened the 2008-09 campaign with a dominating victory of the Evansville Purple Aces, taking first in all but one event. The team followed that up with a 166-131 win over the University of New Orleans for their second win on the young season. Freshman diver Justin Ruszkowski was named the Sun Belt's Diver of the Week on Nov. 5 after sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives against New Orleans.
Just a fun little tidbit about Mizzou's connection with SIU, the Salukis' Head Coach Rick Walker was the head coach for Mizzou junior Colleen Gordon at the USA Swimming 5K Open Water National Championships. Gordon placed second in the event, held back in May.
Last Time They Met
The Tigers and Salukis faced off last year as a part of Mizzou's Dual Challenge. Missouri dominated Southern Illinois 112-55, getting victories from Matt Dahlke in the 200 free and wins from Martin Cernansky in the 200 IM and 100 breast.
Last Time Out
The Mizzou men were last in the pool in late October for a two-day stint in Lawrence, Kan. On the first day, Missouri upset then-No. 18 Texas A&M by a score of 143.5-90.5, getting big wins in the 200 medley relay, a dominating victory by sophomore Spenser Lauver in the 1000 free, and five other victories during the day. In the diving well, sophomore Dante Jones and junior Greg DeStephen finished 2-3 in the 1-meter dive. Jones scored 326.15 on the board, just edging out DeStephen's 320.35. In the 3-meter, the two Tiger divers flip-flopped, as DeStephen took second and Jones finished in third. DeStephen scored 319.55, while Jones scored 301.75.
The following day, the Tigers competed with the rest of the league in the Big 12 Relays. The team finished second with 92 points, marking just the second time that the Tigers' men's squad has taken second-place at the event. The trio of Cernansky, freshman Michael Lopresti and senior Ted Harris contributed with two of the three Tiger wins on the day, touching first in the 150 and 300 breast relays. Freshman Jan Konarzewski, Cernansky, senior Gilad Kaufman and sophomore Jordan Hawley also contributed with a victory, as the foursome took first in the 100 Medley relay, finishing in 43.71. Missouri's diving duo of DeStephen and Jones scored big points for the Tigers after taking gold in the 1-meter relay-style event. Later, in the 3-meter, the Tiger tandem impressed again, posting a score 279.05 to edge out Texas A&M for second.
Big 12's Finest
The Big 12 Conference announced on Wednesday, Oct. 29, that redshirt sophomore Cameron Sellers was named Swimmer of the Month for the men. Sellers has already won three events on the young season. The Valley Center, Kan., native touched first in the 200 free (1:42.12) and 500 free (4:45.34) in Missouri's 143.5-90.5 victory over No. 18 Texas A&M. Sellers also added another victory in the 500 free (4:32.74) at the Show Me Showdown.