March 17, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
After another solid performance at the conference championships in February, the Missouri women's swimming and diving team will send five representatives to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center for the national championships this weekend at Purdue University. Kim Jasmer, Lauren Lavigna and Dominique Bouchard all made the cut in the pool, while Jordan Morcom and Christina Gailey qualified for the diving portion of the competition.
Last Time Out
The Tigers earned third place at the 2010 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas, at the end of last month, setting numerous school and personal-best records over the four day meet. All three swimmers were a part of record-setting relay teams or broke individual previous school records during the event, while Christina Gailey finished second in the Platform competition, setting a new school record in the event. Gailey then went to zones where she took home gold in the same event, earning her first medal at the national diving qualifying meet.
The Meet
A grand total of 322 athletes and 71 relay teams will be participating in this year's meet, with Georgia and Arizona leading the pack with 18 athletes making the cut for the championships, while Virginia and Texas A&M tie for second with 16 competitors on each squad. Each of the five Big 12 swimming programs will be represented this weekend, with Missouri leading all north schools with number of participants entered.
Jasmer and Lavigna lead the group with three events each this weekend, with Jasmer qualifying for the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle. She currently has the 48th best time nationally in the 50 free, 30th best time in the 100 free and 24th best time in 200 free. Lavigna made the cut in the 500 free, and 100 and 200 back races, as she has the 66th fastest time in the free, 43 best time in the 100 back and 18th best time in the 200 back nationally. Bouchard also made both 100 and 200 back events, having the 42nd best time in the 100 and 21st best time in the 200.
Gailey's performances the last few weeks have paid off in gold and silver medals in back-to-back competitions. Since she participated in all three events at the zone meet, Gailey qualified for all three events at the national level. Morcom, after a final dive that catapulted her into the national meet at zones, will be a strong contender on the one and three-meter springboards. Out of the 31 teams sending divers to West Lafayette, Ind., Missouri is only one of ten schools sending two athletes to the championships.
The meet begins Thursday morning with 200 free relay preliminaries at 11 a.m., with live results of each event at http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-swim/champpage/w-swim-div1-index.html.