Feb. 26, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - With two bronze medal finishes by Kim Jasmer and Jordan Morcom on Friday night, the Missouri women's swimming and diving team remains in third place overall at the 2010 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships.
The Tigers currently have 330 total points, still leading north division schools Kansas, Iowa State and Nebraska. Texas A&M continues to lead the meet with 662 points, followed by Texas who has 618 points.
Kim Jasmer would need her strongest effort for the finals of the 200 free, and came away beating her time in the prelims and earned a third place finish in 1 minute, 46.50 seconds. The "B" cut time vaults her to third place all-time in school history, while Stephanie Rovig finished eighth in 1:48.79, moving her up to fifth all-time.
Brigette Selbert and Francie Szostak made the consolation heat of the event, as Selbert finished 13th and Szostak in 14th place.
Jasmer finished in a close second in the third heat of the 200 free prelims, finishing in 1:46.86, swimming faster than her season best time by more than .20 seconds. Rovig also earned her place in the finals after swimming a 1:49.28 making the final spot.
After her fifth place finish yesterday in the 1-meter competition, Jordan Morcom finished two spots higher on Friday with a third place finish in the 3-meter event. She was third going into the finals after scoring 308 points in the prelims, and then backed that up with a season-high 327 point performance in the finals to earn the bronze medal, improving her third place standing all-time.
Colleen Gordon finished seventh in the 100 fly, touching the pad in 54.55 seconds in the championship round. Molly Bollen also scored in the event, coming in second in the consolation race, finishing in 54.80 seconds.
In the preliminaries, Gordon not only made the finals by finishing in 54.31 seconds, but broke the four-year old school record by .44 seconds in the process, taking about a half second off of her season best time. Bollen also broke the record after her preliminary swim, clocking in at 54.71 seconds, placing her second all-time.
The 400 medley relay team of Bouchard, McCleery, Gordon and Nathanson finished fifth in the event, clocking in at 3:42, which was enough to make an NCAA "B" cut mark and place the team fourth all-time in the event.
Morgan McCleery finished in eighth place in the 100 breast, clocking in at 1:03.77, while Rachel Ripley won the consolation final in 1:03.65 and Emi DiBenigno finished 15th in 1:06.16. McCleery qualified for the finals in lane eight after finishing the prelims in 1:03.17 and Ripley qualified for the consolation swim after finishing in 1:03.42.
Lauren Lavigna won the consolation heat of the 100 back, finishing in 54.98 seconds, followed by Bouchard who finished in 55.11 and Cassie Cunningham in 55.51.
The Tigers will complete the conference championships tomorrow with eight more races on tap, beginning with the 200 back preliminaries at 10 a.m.