March 19, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Missouri women's swimming and diving team completed their first day at the 2009 Women's NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. The Tigers, who qualified eight women to the NCAA Championships - the most ever in school history, competed in the 500 freestyle, 400 medley relay and 1-meter dive during the first morning of competition.
Senior diver Kendra Melnychuk posted her highest finish ever in the 1-meter at the NCAA Championships. The three-time NCAA Qualifier posted a score of 266.05 during the preliminary round, putting her in 21st place. Melnychuk missed finishing in the top-16 by only 4.50 points. Divers who finish between ninth and 16th get to dive in the consolation finals in the afternoon, while those who finish in the top-eight compete in the finals during the evening session. The top-16 finishers are also awarded with All-America honors.
"We thought Kendra dove very well today," said Missouri head coach Brian Hoffer. "She dove even better than she did last year in this event, and only missed getting in the top-16 by four points. She's much stronger in the 3-meter and platform events, so we're excited to see how she does the rest of the weekend."
In the competition pool, the Tigers sent four swimmers out to battle in the 500 free. Junior Colleen Gordon and sophomore Francie Szostak posted very impressive runs, with both finishing right around their career bests. Gordon finished in 41st with a time of 4:45.76, just .34 off of her personal best. Szostak finished in 52nd and only .18 off her career best, racing in 4:48.92. Senior Jill Granger finished her run in 4:52.17, while sophomore Lauren Lavigna touched at 4:56.57.
"Colleen and Francie were great today," said Hoffer. "We were very happy with their performances."
Finishing off the day for the Tigers was the 400 medley relay. While Missouri didn't qualify in the event, they were allowed to compete since they posted an NCAA "B" Cut during the season. Freshman Kayla Durnil and senior Lori Halvorson joined Lavigna and Gordon to post a time of 3:41.77, the second-fastest time in school history. Lavigna started off the relay with a time of 54.94 in the backstroke, just .20 off her school record.
"We were really happy with Lauren today," said Hoffer. "We felt she really came back after swimming in the 500 free earlier and fired off with a strong relay start for us. She's not really a 500 freestyle swimmer, she just recorded a really impressive time in it at conference, so to see her swim in that and then come back shortly after and beat out other backstrokers who will score at NCAA's is great for our program.
"It was nice to have a relay at NCAA's again, as we haven't had one since the early 1980's. It's not an event we really felt we could score in because we didn't qualify, but we had a "B" cut so we decided to swim in, and we're glad we did."
The Tigers will be back in pool tomorrow morning as they prepare for what should be a busy session. Mizzou will have swimmers competing in 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, along with a 200 medley relay team. Melnychuk will dive in the 3-meter, while Missouri's 800 free relay team, who posted the 10th-best time in the country this season, will compete later in the evening.
Stay tuned to mutigers.com for updates throughout the weekend.
Friday Morning Schedule
200 Medley Relay
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
3-Meter Diving