March 19, 2010

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - After a strong start on Thursday, the Missouri women's swimming and diving team set a new school record and earned it's first points of this year's national championship meet at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on Friday.

Jordan Morcom finished in 16th place to score points for the Tigers, while Lauren Lavigna set a new school record in the 100 back.

"Having Jordan score points, and Lauren setting a new school record is a huge positive for the team," Interim Head Coach Chris Peters said. "We felt like we had a really good start yesterday, and hopefully we can finish strong tomorrow."

Morcom earned her place in the finals after scoring 315.05 points in the preliminaries, then finishing the event with 272.80 points in the afternoon session.

Lavigna finished the 100 back in 54.60 seconds, .14 seconds better than the school record time she set last year, and shaved over .30 seconds off of her season best time. Dominique Bouchard also fared well in her first national meet, finishing the race in 54.97 seconds.

Kim Jasmer continued her run in the championships by participating in the 200 free event, finishing the race in 1:49.20.

The Tigers will wrap up the 2010 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m.