University of Missouri
Missouri Grand Prix
Lavigna Scores Silver, NCAA "B" Cut Time
2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 15, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri sophomore Lauren Lavigna became the fourth Tiger in the past three days to win a medal at the 2009 Missouri Grand Prix, taking silver in the 200 meter back in what was an astoundingly impressive performance.
Lavigna posted a time of 2:13.79, beating out the third-place finisher by just .04 seconds. Her performance in the long course event converts to a time of 1:54.66 in short course yards, giving her a solid NCAA "B" cut time.
While the Missouri swimming and diving program doesn't count long course-to-short course conversions for their record books, the NCAA does allow conversions when determining NCAA Championship qualifiers. If Mizzou did allow conversions to stand as records, Lavigna's time would have beaten out the school record by almost five seconds.
Two Missouri freshmen, Adam Abernathy and Jan Konarzewski, swam in the finals of the men's portion of the 200 meter back. Abernathy, swimming in the "C" finals, took first place in his heat and 17th overall with a time of 2:09.92. Konarzewski swam in the championship heat, and posted a new personal best in the process, racing in 2:04.35 for fifth place.
Sophomore Melissa Jamerson also swam in a championship heat, competing in the "A" finals of the 200 meter butterfly. Jamerson posted a seventh place finish, touching in 2:16.50.
Elsewhere, Mary DeScenza continued her run at the 2008 USA Swimming Grand Prix series championship with two more gold medal finishes, bringing her weekend total five golds and one silver. DeScenza won the aforementioned 200 meter backstroke in 2:11.06, and later dominated the 200 meter butterfly by winning the race in over five seconds. Her time of 2:07.46 also set a new Mizzou Aquatic Center and meet record.
Fred Bousquet, Ous Mellouli and Ryan Lochte each added one more gold medal to their meet total. Bousquet took gold in the 100 meter free, barely missing out on breaking the meet and pool record by only .13 seconds. Mellouli placed first in the mile in dominating fashion, winning the race by over four seconds in 15:16.12, while Lochte won the men's 200 back with a finish of 1:57.73.
The third-annual Missouri Grand Prix will come to a close Monday morning with the seventh session, an all timed finals session, set to begin at 9 a.m. CT.
