Dec. 5, 2010
Final Stats
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Mizzou men's swimming and diving teams finished a dominant weekend Sunday, as the Tigers took first place at the Mizzou Invitational. Missouri finished the three-day meet with four new all-time Missouri records and 14 Invitational records.
The team totaled 1,380 points over the course of the meet to claim victory, followed by Drury (1,097), Missouri S&T (588) and Truman State (332).
Sunday, Spenser Lauver paced Mizzou in the 1650 free final, finishing third with a time of 15:43.68. Teammate Vito Cammisano was right behind Lauver, coming in fourth at 15:50.19. Three other Tigers competed, as Eric Blue finished seventh, Ethan Rose was 10th and John Hunt came in 16th.
Mizzou next swept the podium in the 200 back, as John Higgins finished first at 1:48.25, followed by Yaniv Shnaider and Ryan Sellers. Adam Abernathy came in sixth and Jonathon Benson finished eighth, rounding out the Tigers' five-man contingent in the top ten.
Scott Martin led Mizzou in the 100 free, finishing sixth with a time of 46.13. John Krause was ninth for the Tigers, while Jeff Hendricks came in 13th and Michael Beck was 15th. Two other Tigers finished in the top 20, with Ryan Chiero coming in 17th and Joe Hladik in 18th.
The first meet record of the day was broken by Jowan Qupty, whose time of 1:59.56 in the 200 breast gave the Tigers their second win of the day. Michael Lopresti came in third for Mizzou, while Shnaider was fifth and Colin Livasy took eighth. Blas Yslas finished ninth to give the Tigers five swimmers in the top 10.
In the 200 butterfly, Jason King finished second and Mark Waugh came in third to give Mizzou two podium finishers. David Dorak finished sixth before the swimmers took a pre-relay break.
Mizzou closed out the meet on a high note, as its top squad of Anders Melin, Roko Simunic, Scott Martin and Jordan Hawley won the 400 free relay and set a new meet record with their time of 2:58.55. The Tigers' other relay teams placed fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.
The Tigers swept the morning's platform diving podium. David Bonuchi set an Invitational record with his 445.35 point first-place finish, while Dante Jones came in second at 393.85. Mitch Harris placed third with a score of 256.30. Bonuchi's score was also good enough to set a new University record, edging out Ryan Day's score of 433.50 set back in 1999.
The Mizzou men set several other records over the course of the meet. Anders Melin had a career weekend, as he was a part of three of the four Missouri records broken. He first rewrote the history books for the 100 butterfly, where his first-place finish in 47.72 earned him not only the victory, but also an NCAA 'B' qualifying time and the top spot in Missouri history. His time broke the record of 48.01 formerly set by Gilad Kaufman in 2009.
Melin was also a member of two relay teams who set Missouri records. The 200 free relay team of Simunic, Melin, Conroy and Hawley set a new Missouri record with their 1:19.23 finish, and the same team took victory and set a new record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:27.01
The Tigers also set several Invitational records. Yaniv Shnaider's time of 1:48.21 set a new record in the 200 IM, while Roko Simunic made his mark with a 20.11 finish in the 50 free and a 47.78 time in the 100 back. Mark Conroy also set a record of his own, as his 54.58 finish in the 100 breast stands first all-time in Mizzou Invite history. The 400 medley relay team of Simunic, Michael Lopresti, Anders Melin and Jordan Hawley set an Invitational record ith a 3:16.89 finish.
Mizzou also broke several records on the boards as well. Dante Jones' score of 387.10 in 1 meter diving was the top score in Invite history, and David Bonuchi set a new record with his 391.55 finish in the 3 meter dive, along with his new University platform diving record.
Altogether, the Missouri men had 70 lifetime best performances and 30 improvements to Mizzou All-Time top ten lists. Not only did they set 14 meet records and 4 Mizzou records, but they also had 12 swims that met the NCAA 'B' qualifying cut.
After taking the Mizzou Invite title, the Tigers will resume competition Jan. 15 at Minnesota. For all the latest on Mizzou Swimming & Diving, stay tuned to MUTigers.com.