TUCSON, Ariz. - The Mizzou men's and women's swimming teams opened 2015 at Arizona on Friday, Jan. 2, with the women going 3-1 in dual action and the men falling to host Arizona. The No. 16 women posted wins over New Mexico State (210-81), Northern Arizona (201-92) and Oregon State (185-77), while suffering a 175-106 loss to No. 14 Arizona. The men, ranked No. 8, competed in a true dual against the No. 11 Wildcats, falling 160.5-101.5.
On the men's side, the Tigers were led sophomores Michael Chadwick and Carter Griffin, who both claimed two event wins. . Chadwick swept the 100 free and 200 free races, while Griffin swept the 100 back and 200 back. For the women, freshman Erin Metzger-Seymour led the way with a win in the 200 free.
Chadwick, who ranks second nationally in the 100 free, won the event in 45.47, just 0.05 ahead of Bradley Tandy, who claimed the 50 free national title at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Chadwick's second win of the meet came after he swam a 1:41.35 in the 200 free, where senior Andrew Phillips took third in 1:42.06 and sophomore Levi Hanks was fourth in 1:42.10.
In the backstroke events, Griffin outtouched Arizona's Michael Meyer in both the 100 and 200. Griffin swam a 50.03 in the 100 back and a 1:47.63 in the 200 breast, almost three second ahead of Meyer.
Metzger-Seymour bested 18 other swimmers to take top honors in the 200 free in a time of 1:51.90 for her first win in the event as a Tiger.
The women's squad opened the meet with a second-place showing in the 200 medley relay, as the A team of freshman Hannah Stevens, junior Abby Duncan, senior Danielle Barbiea and freshman Rachel Hayden posted a time of 1:43.64.
In two of the more anticipated races of the day, Arizona's Kevin Cordes, the two-time defending national champion in the 100 and 200 breast, outtouched senior Sam Tierney in races. Tierney posted times of 55.38 and 2:04.12, respectively, in the events. Senior Igor Kozlovskij was just behind Tierney in the 200 breast to take third in 2:04.64.
Duncan claimed second in the women's 100 breast with a time of 1:02.29 and third in the 200 breast in 2:16.52. Ross earned fourth-place finishes in both races.
The Tigers went two-three in both the men's and women's 200 fly. On the women's side, freshman Sharli Brady took second in 2:03.31, ahead of Metzger-Seymour in 2:03.77. For the men, senior Mack Darragh placed second with a time of 1:50.19, just in front of junior Daniel Graviss' swim of 1:50.30.
The 50 free again also saw Mizzou post second-place finishes on both the men's and women's side. Barbiea was second in the women's race in 23.47, while junior Matthew Margritier tied for runner-up honors for the men in 20.56.
In the women's 100 fly, Barbiea and Metzger-Seymour tied for second after swims of 55.74. Graviss also claimed second in the 100 fly on the men's side, touching the wall in 50.07.
In the men's 1000 free, senior Eegan Groome earned second-place in 9:20.99, just two seconds off first.
Stevens took third in both the women's 100 and 200 back races, after clocking times of 58.13 and 2:03.03, respectively.
Mizzou returns to the pool on Friday, Jan. 17 when the squad travels to Columbia, S.C., for a Southeastern Conference dual against South Carolina.