Tigers Post Impressive Runs At CSC Invitational
6/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving
June 24, 2008
The Missouri men's and women's swim teams wrapped up their final meet before the Olympic Team Trials this past weekend, competing in the CSC Summer Invitational hosted by the Columbia Swimming Club and held at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. The meet was the final chance for swimmers to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, beginning Sunday, June 29, and running through Sunday, July 6.
Seniors Lori Halvorson (Tulsa, Okla.) and Jill Granger (Midland, Texas) qualified for the Olympic Team Trials in their respective events over the weekend. Halvorson, after taking first in the 50-meter freestyle finals (26.40), swam later in the Time Trials as a last chance effort to get into the Olympic trials. She improved on her finals time and finished her run in 26.34, edging out the 26.39 time needed to qualify. It is the third event that she has qualified for, as she has made the cuts in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle events as well.
Granger became the fourth Tiger to qualify for the Olympic Team Trials with her performance in the 200-meter fly. She finished her finals run in the event in a time of 2:17.34, putting her in second-place. Since her finals time was so close to the Olympic cut time (2:16.68), Granger and the coaches decided that she should swim in the 200 fly Time Trial later in the evening to see if she could make the Olympic trials cut. She did just that, improving her time to 2:16.01, beating her impressive finals run by over :01.
Other Tigers posted impressive times over the weekend, including a first-place finish by senior Erin Yeager (Minnetonka, Minn.) in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:44.83), and a second-place run by senior Gilad Kaufman (Netania, Israel) in the 50-meter free (24.54).
Missouri swimmers would top the leader boards in many other events as well. In the 100-meter free, six of the top seven swimmers were from Mizzou. Redshirt sophomore Cameron Sellers (Valley Center, Kan.) won the event, finishing in 54.23. Sophomore Spenser Lauver (Omaha, Neb.) followed him in second-place (54.52), while senior Brad Hubbard (Louisville, Ky.) claimed fourth (54.81). Rounding out the top seven were three seniors, with Byron Carlisle (Frisco, Texas) finishing fifth (55.08), Matt Dahlke (Marshalltown, Iowa) claiming sixth (55.28), and Bryan Difford (Craighall, South Africa) taking seventh (56.24)
Other winners throughout the weekend included Lauver in both the 200-meter fly (2:08.50) and the 400-meter free (4:10.49). Carlisle took first in the 100-meter back (59.71), while senior Jake Hoffmann (Sugar Land, Texas) won the 200-meter back (2:10.91). Sophomore David Dorak (Two Rivers, Wis.) was a winner in the 100-meter fly (56.47).
As a team, the Tigers took third-place, finishing with 1054.5 points
Granger and Halvorson will join senior Ted Harris (Greenville, Ill.) and incoming freshman Lisa Nathanson (West Des Moines, Iowa) as Missouri representatives at the Olympic Team Trials, held in Omaha, Neb., in hopes of making the Olympic roster. Harris is set to swim in the 100-meter breaststroke, while Nathanson will compete with Halvorson in the 50-meter freestyle. The Olympic Team Trials will be televised nightly on NBC or USA. For a complete television schedule and live results throughout the week, tune into www.usaswimming.org.
