University of Missouri
Indiana / Ohio State
Tigers Upend Buckeyes, Fall to Indiana
1/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 17, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The University of Missouri women's swimming and diving team earned a big victory over a solid Big Ten team on Saturday in the tri-meet between Mizzou, Ohio State and No. 14 Indiana. The Tigers put up a tough fight against the Hoosiers, but ultimately fell by a score of 161-139 score. However, Missouri dominated the Buckeyes by a score of 207-93, giving the Tigers their second dual win of the season while handing the Buckeyes their first loss.
“I feel that we did what we were supposed to do today,” Mizzou Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. “I felt that Indiana was supposed to beat us, but I thought we would be able to upend Ohio State, and we did just that. It would've been a big upset to beat Indiana at their pool, but I felt we got up and competed hard on both sides, we weren't intimidated, had a lot of energy and had a lot of fun.”
Missouri got their first big points of the afternoon with a 1-2 finish in the 200 free by junior Colleen Gordon and senior Lori Halvorson. Gordon outraced her teammate with a time of 1:49.40, while Halvorson touched in after her at 1:50.18. Gordon would later add her second victory of the day with an impressive time of 4:49.78 in the 500 free, beating out the second place finisher by nearly four seconds.
In the following event, sophomore Lauren Lavigna took third in the 100 back with a time of 56.49. Freshman Amber Molina came in fifth at 58.29. Lavigna would later post another third place time in the 200 back, racing in 2:01.10.
Sophomore Morgan McCleery posted the second-fastest 100 breast time ever at Missouri. Her runner-up time of 1:03.19 improved on her old personal best by .02. McCleery finished just .10 out of first.
The Tigers added more points in the next event with a 3-4 finish in the 200 fly. Sophomore Melissa Jamerson, the school record holder in the event, took third with her time of 2:01.44, while senior Jill Granger's performance of 2:03.83 put her in fourth.
Later in the day, Granger would score a victory in the 400 IM. The school record holder in the event posted an impressive time of 4:19.87 for first place.
The 50 free proved to be a big event for the Tigers, as the women took four of the top five spots. Freshman Lisa Nathanson struck gold in an event that came down to the final touch. Nathanson's time of 23.78 beat out Indiana's Donna Smailis by the smallest of margins for first place. Seniors Allie Bennett and Lauren Cox and sophomore Francie Szostak posted a 3-4-5 finish. Bennett's time of 24.38 just edged out Cox's 24.44, while Szostak touched at fifth at 24.72.
The Tigers also got solid performances in the 100 free, as Halvorson claimed the second Missouri victory on the afternoon, touching at 51.45. Coming in third was Nathanson at 51.72, with Szostak taking fourth at 51.91.
However, the most impressive performance of the day for Missouri came from freshman Kayla Durnil in the 200 breast. The Columbia, Mo. native took gold with a time of 2:14.88, shattering the old school record by more than a second, while winning the event in dominating fashion by over :03. Senior Erin Yeager took third, posting a time of 2:19.11.
Junior Molly Bollen would post the third-best 100 butterfly time ever at Missouri in what was a very close race between the top six finishers. Bollen's time of 55.55 put her in third place. The winner of the race touched at 55.33, while the sixth place finisher touched at 55.78, creating a very heated battle that came down to the wire all across the pool.
The Tigers closed out the day with one final victory, this time in the form of a relay. Missouri's squad of Nathanson, Bennett, Cox and Halvorson dominated the 200 free relay, touching at 1:34.34 and winning by over two seconds.
In the diving well, senior Kendra Melnychuk took second in the 3-meter with a score of 311.95. Freshman Jordan Morcom came in fifth at 285.90.
“What we saw from our opponents today is what we want to be,” said Hoffer. “We want to be a top-10 team. I think we showed glimpses of that but we didn't do it at a high-enough level.”
The men fought tough but ultimately fell to two top-10 programs, losing to Indiana by a score of 239-61 and to Ohio State by a 246-54 total.
“We felt coming in that it was going to be tough for us to go against two top 10 teams,” Missouri Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. “We really wanted to compete and race hard, and I think we did that. I felt we weren't intimidated, had a lot of energy and had a lot of fun.”
One of the biggest performances of the day came at the helm of junior Martin Cernansky. The school record holder in the 200 breast went out and improved on his own record with a second-place performance in the event. Cernansky's finish of 1:59.00 beat out his old school record by .17. Later in the afternoon, Cernansky would go on to post the seventh-fastest 400 IM time in school history, as he touched with a time of 4:00.59.
Senior Gilad Kaufman had an impressive day for the Tigers, posting two fourth-place finishes. In the 100 fly, Kaufman improved on his own school record, finishing the race in 48.37, .12 better than his old previous best. In the 200 fly, Kaufman finished in 1:48.33.
Freshman Jan Konarzewski posted two solid runs himself. Already holding the fourth-best 200 back time at Mizzou, Konarzewski improved on that time with a run of 1:48.09. Earlier in the day, Konarzewski came in sixth with a solid finish of 50.32.
Missouri also posted the eighth-best 200 medley relay time ever, with Konarzewski, Cernansky, Kaufman and sophomore Jordan Hawley racing in at 1:30.87.
Sophomore Dante Jones shined in the diving well today for the Tigers, posting a third place finish in the 1-meter dive and a runner-up finish in the 3-meter dive. Going up against numerous NCAA All Americans from the previous season, Jones posted a score of 334.20 on the 1-meter springboard, less than one point off of her personal best. Later, in the 3-meter, Jones scored a 335.40 to hold off Ohio State's Shawn Moore, who finished with a score of 335.00.
The women will return to Columbia next weekend for Senior Day when the Tigers take on Iowa State in a Big 12 battle. The meet is scheduled to start at 11 am CT. The men will be back in action on Jan. 31, when the team heads to Iowa City, Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes.
Players Mentioned
