University of Missouri
Texas
Tigers Fall to Texas, 150-93
10/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving, Swimming & Diving
Oct. 15, 2009
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Columbia, Mo. - Despite capturing four first place finishes and 17 top-three showings, the Missouri Women's Swimming and Diving squad opened the dual portion of its schedule with a loss, 150-93, to Texas at the Mizzou Aquatics Center. Missouri's first meet with Texas since 2005, the youthful Tigers proved themselves capable of competing with a top-five program.
"We came in today wanting to know if we would be able to hang with a top-five program," Missouri Head Coach Brian Hoffer said. "We did just that. We suffered some tough losses early on in the meet which got us down, but I still believe that this team is capable of achieving great things this season."
Sophomore Lisa Nathanson (West Des Moines, Iowa) was the first Tiger swimmer to collect a first place finish on the evening. Swimming in the 50 free, Nathanson edged out Texas' Bethany Adams, 22.75-23.32, adding nine points to Missouri's team total. Just shy of her career best and school best mark of 22.74, Nathanson now owns the top two times in Missouri's all-time record book.
Competing in the 100 free later in the meet, Nathanson was awarded her second first place finish of the night, swimming the 100 free in a time of 50.55. Teammate Kim Jasmer, a senior transfer, took third in 51.07.
Missouri went one, two in the 200 backstroke with freshman Dominique Bouchard (Ontario, Canada) managing a first place showing in 1:59.74. Junior Lauren Lavigna (Vancouver, B.C.) came in second in 2:00.18.
In the diving well, Missouri's Jordan Morcom, a sophomore from Grapevine, Texas, was awarded a first place finish on the 1-meter board. Morcom turned in a final score of 275.77 later taking second in the 3-meter with 297.38 points.
Bouchard and Jasmer recorded second place finishes in the 200 IM and 200 free, respectively. Bouchard, erased two seconds off of her season-opening time of 2:07.76 set at last Saturday's Show-Me Showdown by finishing the night with a time of 2:05.05.
Jasmer, came off the blocks strong in the 200 free, swimming her first 50 yards in 25.89, good enough to tie teammate Francie Szostak (Northbrook, Ill.) for the best start of the race. Jasmer finished the event in a time of 1:49.48, while Katie Riefenstahl of Texas took gold in 1:49.36.
Beginning the night with the 200 medley relay, Texas just barely edged out Missouri, 1:43.30 to 1:43.31. Missouri's relay team of Cassie Cunningham (Pflugerville, Texas), Morgan McCleery (Celina, Texas), Jasmer and Nathanson notched the fifth-best time in program history but fell just one-hundredth of a second shy of the win.
"If we had been able to come through with a win in the 200 medley relay it really would have given us a different mindset going into the rest of the meet," Hoffer said. "It was tough to come back from a loss like that, but our team did what they could to stay close with the Longhorns."
The dual came to a close with the 400 free relay and the Tigers notched a second place finish (3:28.37) on the strength of Szostak, senior Colleen Gordon (Missouri City, Texas), sophomore Stephanie Rovig (Houston, Texas) and Lavigna.
Missouri's women will return to the pool Friday, Oct. 16 at 9 a.m. (CT) in the Big 12 Relays.
"We have a lot of confidence going into tomorrow's competition," Hoffer said. "It's going to be a tight turnaround for us, but the girls are ready to get right back in the pool and compete again."
Players Mentioned
