April 26, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -
The Missouri men's swimming and diving team produced another winning dual season in 2009-10, as three Tigers made the cut for the men's swimming and diving national championships, while setting numerous school records in the process.
The season began for the Tigers as the team hosted the Show-Me Showdown at the Mizzou Aquatics Center. Facing stiff competition from some strong in-state programs, the Tigers finished second with 313.5 points. Mizzou won six events led by Jordan Hawley in the 50 free, Anders Melin in the 50 fly, Yaniv Shnaider in the 200 IM and the group of Hawley, Jeff Hendricks, Melin and Joe Hladik winning the 400 free relay. The team also took home the 1-meter title that was scored using an overall team score, while senior Greg DeStephen won the 3-meter dive ahead of teammate Dante Jones.
Mizzou would get its first test of true competition two weeks later as the group participated in the Southwest Collegiate Plunge hosted by SMU. The Tigers squared off with Texas, Texas A&M and the host Mustangs during the two day event in Dallas. The team finished the first day in third place, as sophomore Jan Konarzewski earned the only first place finish of the weekend in the 200 back, while DeStephen and Hawley each earned third place finishes. Missouri eventually finished third overall in the meet, after two more second place finishes by DeStephen and Hawley on day two of competition in the pool and diving well.
After another two week break, the team returned home to face Southern Illinois-Carbondale, and won 12 events on the day to defeat the Salukis 144-90. DeStephen and Hawley each earned two titles on the day, Hawley in the 50 and 100 free, DeStephen in the 1 and 3-meter springboard competitions. Spenser Lauver earned the 1000 free title, Shnaider earned another 200 IM title and Konarzewski rounded out the Tiger individuals with another win in the 200 back, along with three different relay teams winning on the day as well.
For his efforts, against the Salukis, DeStephen earned his first Big 12 Men's Diver of the Week honor, sweeping both 1 and 3-meter springboard competitions against SIU. It wasn't just winning each event, it was by the wide margin of victory that earned DeStephen his first conference honor. With 363.97 points in the 1-meter dive, he won the event by more than 40 points, and with 396.15 points in the 3-meter dive, won that event by more than 90 points over the second place finisher.
After nearly a month off from competition, the Tiger men returned to the pool hosting the Mizzou Invite at the aquatics center against competition both new and old. The Tigers hit the water swimming on day one, winning four of the six events on the first day of competition. The first win came off the back of a school record 47.91 spilt by Konarzewski in the 400 medley relay win, while the Tigers cruised to victories in the 200 free relay, 1-meter diving title by Jones for his first of the season, and another 50 free win by Hawley.
The Tigers maintained that lead on day two, this time fending off eventual Division II national champion Drury University who took over second place after leapfrogging Arizona State. The team won three more events on day two, with the team of Konarzewski, Hadlik, Melin and Hawley winning the 200 medley relay, Konarzewski winning the 100 back and DeStephen smashing the school record in the 3-meter competition by scoring 420.75 points.
With strong performances on both days, the Tigers claimed the Mizzou Invite Title with 1171 points over Drury who finished second. Having continued success in the relays, the group of Hawley, Melin, Cameron Sellers, and Hendricks took first in the 400 free, while Hawley won 100 free title and Konarzewski won the 200 back final. DeStephen also won the final diving competition of the event, leading a trio of Tigers taking the top three spots in the first platform event of the year.
With four titles in seven races, the Big 12 Conference awarded its men's swimmer of the week award to Konarzewski after his performances at the Mizzou Invite and SIU. After dominating performances in winning two 100 and 200 back races over the span of a month, it was his 47.91 second school record split time in a relay that sealed Konarzewski's first conference honor.
After a full month off for Christmas break, Mizzou returned to action hosting the Miners of Missouri S&T to open the second half of the season. The Tigers showed little rust coming out of the break, defeating MST 154-103. Missouri won nine events in the dual, with Hawley and Konarzewski each winning two races on the day for the third straight meet in the free and back events. Swimming outside of the individual medley, Shnaider won the 200 free race, while Lauver won the 500 free, Michael Lopresti won the 100 breast and Melin winning the 100 fly.
In the last home event of the year for the men's team, the Tigers faced No. 8 Minnesota out of the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers were the third top ten team the Tigers faced in the season, falling in a tough dual 188-112. The team won four events against Minnesota, led by another two-win day for Konarzewski in the 100 and 200 back. Diving for the final time at home, DeStephen won both the 3-meter springboard and platform diving titles. Shnaider earned a second place finish in the 200 free, while Cameron Sellers earned two second place finishes in the 200 fly and 500 free.
Coming off a four race performance, earning two first place and second place finishes, Konarzewski was again honored with the Big 12 Men's Swimmer of the Week award by the conference office, sharing the top spot with women's swimmer Colleen Gordon at the same time. It was only the third time in school history that the Tigers swept both swimmer of the week awards.
Missouri next headed to South Bend, Ind. to face off with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Iowa Hawkeyes and Denver Pioneers in the Shamrock Invitational, in a championship style/dual meet event, where all points scored would go toward an overall team score against the other schools in the meet. Hawley and DeStephen each aided in the Tigers' fast start in the meet, with Hawley tying for first place in the 50 free, while DeStephen won the 3-meter dive title.
The Tigers battled for two more sessions the day after, and came away with dual wins over Denver and Notre Dame, falling to Iowa by just one point. Konarzewski led the way with a clean sweep in the 100 and 200 back, while Jones capped off a Tiger sweep in the diving events by winning the 1-meter competition.
Stepping away from collegiate action, the team participated in the fourth annual Missouri Grand Prix hosted by USA Swimming, competing against some of the world's best swimmers. On the first day of action, Shnaider finished seventh overall in the 400 IM, while Scott Martin finished 18th in the 100 fly and Hladik finished 20th in the 100 breast. Konarzewski competed on day two and finished seventh in the 100 back, while mid-season newcomer Jowan Qupty finished 13th in the 200 breast. Konarzewski was the only athlete to participate in a final on the last day of competition, finishing fifth in the 200 back.
After the many months of competition, the Tigers finally reached the end of the regular season, culminating at the Big 12 Championships at Texas A&M. Missouri began day one of the championships on a strong note, with Jones earning a bronze in the 1-meter springboard. The 800 free relay team earned a third place finish, but it was Hendricks who set a school record in the 200 on the first leg of the race. The group of Konarzewski, Lopresti, Melin and Hawley also set a school record in their third place finish in the 200 medley relay.
On day two, Missouri had even more top ten setting performances, beginning with Hawley's first sub 19 second swim of the season in the 200 free relay. It was the second fastest swim in school history in the 50 free, although he already owns the school record. He went on to score a fifth place finish in the 50 free individual event. Hendricks continued his assault on records, moving up to third all-time in the 500 free, where he would finish sixth, while Lauver would come in fifth overall.
The third day of competition began with a bang as the 400 medley relay group of Konarzewski, Lopresti, Melin and Hawley broke two school records in the process. Konarzewski first set a new 100 back record on the first leg of the race, while the rest of the team obliterated the 400 medley school record by race's end. He would also go on to finish fifth in the 100 back individual event and eighth in the 100 fly.
By the end of the meet, the Tigers wanted to go out guns blazing, and did so with another outstanding performance by Konarzewski. He earned his first conference medal by finishing second in the 200 back, shredding nearly two seconds off of his school record time in the event in one of the more thrilling races of the day. John Higgins also had a stellar performance in the preliminaries that put him at second all-time behind Konarzewski. DeStephen and Jones each nabbed their second medals of the championships with second and third place finishes on the tower. Missouri finished third in the championships with 740 points behind champion Texas and runner-up Texas A&M.
In all, six school records were broken during the four day meet, 13 athletes either entered or improved their standing among all-time school records, and set 16 NCAA "B" cut qualifying times.
The Missouri divers earned their own time in the spotlight, competing in the zone diving meet back in College Station, as DeStephen, Jones and freshman Dallas Becerra hoped to make the cut for the national championships. On the first day of action, DeStephen was the highest finisher, placing eighth in the 3-meter dive competition. Day two was even better for the Tigers, as both DeStephen and Jones qualified for NCAA's as Jones finished third on the 1-meter springboard, while DeStephen earned one of the three spots on the day.
On the last day of competition, Mizzou saved it's best for last as DeStephen claimed zones gold in winning the platform competition. The title was the second for the departing senior, as he is the only Tiger to own gold from zones in Mizzou history in the 3-meter and platform. Since both DeStephen and Jones competed in all the events that weekend, they qualified for both springboard and platform competitions at the national meet.
With two divers heading to nationals, Konarzewski was also invited to participate at the national championships at Ohio State, making the preliminaries of the 100 and 200 back races. Missouri would have a little extra time to prepare, as a potential viral bug caused the start of the championships to be delayed by a day.
The divers were the first to compete in the championships, beginning with the 1-meter springboard. After a strong preliminary round, DeStephen made the "B" final group, finishing tenth and setting a new school record in the event. Scoring 50 more points in the finals, DeStephen now owns all three school diving records at Mizzou.
DeStephen then went out on the next day and set another school mark in the 3-meter event, finishing 11th overall, beating his old school mark by more than 13 points. DeStephen wasn't the only athlete to set new school marks, Konarzewski began his quest for an individual national title in the 100 back, shaving close to a second off of the school-best time he set at the conference championships to finish in 17th place.
Missouri closed out the season on a strong note, with Konarzewski once again setting another school record and DeStephen earning another top ten finish. Konarzewski shaved a half second off of his 200 back time to finish in 17th place for the second straight day, while DeStephen made his third "B" group pairing to finish tenth on the platform. The Tigers scored 24 points over the course of the meet to finish 27th in the meet.
With Konarzewski leading a strong group of returning upperclassmen, the Tigers can look forward to another strong 2010-11 season.