Dec. 11, 2008

The past weekend of Missouri swimming and diving could go down as the most prolific in program history. Not only did both the men's and women's teams claim victories over their opponents at the first-ever Mizzou Invitational, but the two squads shattered records and set new top-10 times and scores in the pool all weekend long.

In total, the men and women combined to break seven records during the three-day event, along with setting 48 new top-10 times and scores. Here's a day-by-day breakdown of the weekend.

Friday

• The first night of finals opened with the women's 200 freestyle relay. Senior Allie Bennett, senior Lori Halvorson, freshman Lisa Nathanson and sophomore Francie Szostak finished second in the race by posting the third-fastest time in MU history.

• The men's 200 free relay team of sophomore Jordan Hawley, freshman Jack Dwyer, freshman Scott Martin and senior Bryan Difford took third with the third-best time ever at Mizzou.

• The 500 free followed the relay. The women posted a 1-2-3 finish, with Szostak's runner-up time of 4:49.94 earning her the third-fastest time ever.

• The men followed with two top-10 times of their own in the 500 free. Redshirt sophomore Cameron Sellers beat his old personal best by almost :02, touching with the second-best time at Mizzou at 4:24.91. Sophomore Jeff Hendricks came in sixth, registering the seventh-fastest time ever at 4:32.28.

• The women recorded another win when Halvorson broke her own school-record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.55, beating her old time of 2:02.86. Senior Jill Granger came in third in the event, posting a 2:04.05 time, fifth-best all-time at MU. Freshman Kayla Durnil finished fourth with the sixth-best time at MU, touching at 2:04.87.

• Difford recorded the first gold of the event for the men in the 200 IM. He improved on his all-time best in the event, touching at 1:48.76, the second-best time at Missouri. Senior Jake Hoffmann swam in 1:51.54, the eighth-best finish in school history. In the preliminaries, senior Ted Harris posted the ninth-fastest 200 IM time, swimming in 1:52.18.

• Bennett and senior Lauren Cox swam into the top-10 of the 50 free with the exact same time. Their run of 23.70 tied them for eighth all-time at Missouri.

• The men scored back-to-back wins after Hawley won the 50 free, improving on his third-best time in the event at Mizzou, touching in 20.08.

• Night one closed with the 400 medley relay. The women's foursome of of sophomore Lauren Lavigna, sophomore Morgan McCleery, junior Colleen Gordon and Halvorson came in second, racing to the third-best 400 medley relay time in school history.

• Freshman Jan Konarzewski, junior Martin Cernansky, senior Gilad Kaufman and Hawley teamed up for the fourth-fastest time at Missouri, completing the 400 medley relay in 3:18.82.

Saturday

• Lavigna, McCleery, Gordon and Halvorson teamed up again to open the second night of finals, and once again recorded a top-10 time, taking second in the 200 medley relay at 1:43.50. The time is the third-best ever at Missouri.

• The men's 200 medley relay team of Konarzewski, Difford, Kaufman and Hawley followed suit, notching the eighth-fastest time ever at Missouri with a finish at 1:30.93.

• Durnil posted a top-10 finish in the following event, recording the fourth-best 400 IM time in school history at 4:23.73.

• In the 100 fly preliminaries, Gordon scored the third-fastest time ever, swimming in 55.80.

• Halvorson broke her second school-record of the weekend with her performance in the 200 free. Her time of 1:47.58, beating the old record held by herself and Gordon.

• Like Halvorson, Sellers broke his own school-record in the 200 free with a time of 1:38.16, beating his old time by .02.

• The 100 breast saw two more top-10 times. McCleery continued her climb up the record books this year by posting the fourth-fastest 100 breast time ever, touching at 1:03.89 for second place. Durnil claimed her second top-10 time with a fourth-place time of 1:04.70 in the preliminaries, the ninth-best ever.

• Difford took fourth-place in the 100 breast with a time of 56.45, putting him at seventh all-time in school history.

• Cox recorded another top-10 time, putting herself seventh all-time at MU in the 100 back with a time of 56.67.

• Two more top-10 times came for the men in the 100 back. Konarzewski and senior Byron Carlisle finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the event. Konarzewski's time of 50.26 is eighth-best at Missouri, while Carlisle's time of 50.54 put him at tenth all-time.

• The men closed night two by posting the third-best 800 free relay time ever, as Sellers, senior Matt Dahlke, Harris and Hendricks raced to a runner-up time of 6:38.71.

• Two Tiger divers joined in the fun with two top-10 scores in the 1-meter. Freshman Jordan Morcom took bronze with the third-highest score at Missouri with 283.75 points. Fellow freshman Christina Gailey placed sixth in the event at 268.70 points, the ninth-best in school history.

• Sophomore Dante Jones recorded the fourth-highest 3-meter score ever at Missouri with 360.55 points.

Sunday

• Sophomore Spenser Lauver opened the third and final night with the fifth-fastest 1650 free time at 15:41.07.

• In the 100 free preliminaries, Halvorson broke her third school-record of the weekend with a time of 50.10. She would later win the event with a time of 50.17. Cox recorded the fourth-best 100 free time ever at MU with a time of 50.45.

• In the men's 200 backstroke preliminaries, Hoffmann tallied the eighth-best time in school history, racing in 1:49.21.

• Difford scored his third top-10 time of the weekend, finishing the 100 free at 45.31 for the eighth-best time in school history.

• The women's 200 breast saw two more top-10 times. Durnil recorded her first-ever victory as a Tiger with the third-fastest time ever, swimming in 2:16.91. McCleery, who took third with a time of 2:19.77, registered the eighth-best time at MU.

• Harris finished second in the 200 breast and secured the fourth-best time ever, finishing at 2:01.00.

• In the 200 fly, senior Jill Granger improved on her fourth-fastest time in the event by finishing at 2:01.33.

• Kaufman notched the second-best 200 fly time in the men's portion of the event, just barely missing out on the school record at 1:47.94.

• The evening ended in exciting fashion, with both the men's and women's 400 free relay teams breaking both school records in the event. The women struck gold, as the team of Halvorson, Cox, Nathanson and Bennett raced in 3:22.94. The men fought back and forth with Iowa before ultimately taking second place, touching in 2:59.38.

• In the diving well, senior Kendra Melnychuk broke the school record on the platform, registering 293.70 points. Gailey took third in the event, finishing with the second-most points ever on the platform at 234.45. Sophomore Keely Brooks registered the fifth-highest point total ever with 201.75 points.

• For the men, junior Greg DeStephen posted the second-best platform time in men's history, recording a runner-up score of 363.70.

Women's Breakdown

• Five broken records

  • Lori Halvorson (200 IM, 200 free, 100 free)

  • Kendra Melnychuk (Platform diving)

  • 400 Free Relay

• 26 new top-10 times

  • 17 women's individual times

  • Five women's diving scores

  • Four women's relay times

Men's Breakdown

• Two broken records

  • Cameron Sellers (200 free)

  • 400 Free Relay

• 22 new top-10 times

  • 15 men's individual times

  • Two men's diving scores

  • Five men's relay times