COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Mizzou men's and women's swimming and diving teams officially open their 2015-16 seasons on Friday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. with the 10th Annual Show-Me Showdown at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. Friday is also the Swim for the Cure event, where fans can purchase pink swim caps for $10, with proceeds going towards the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. Heat sheets will be available for purchase for $2.
The Tigers will compete against in-state foes Drury, Lindenwood, Maryville, Missouri S&T, Missouri State, Truman State, Washington University and William Jewell at the meet. All teams besides Missouri S&T (men only) have men's and women's programs.
Both the men's and women's programs are coming off banner years in 2014-15. The men placed 11th at NCAAs, a new program high, while the women tied their best finish ever after taking 14th at the Championships.
The Mizzou men return eight All-Americans in 2015-16, including seven who earned the honors last season, led by 2015 individual All-Americans Michael Chadwick, Daniel Graviss and Carter Griffin. Chadwick already stands as the second-most decorated male swimmer in program history after only two seasons, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in the 100 free at last year's NCAA Championships. Griffin and Graviss both earned honorable mention honors a year ago, with Griffin taking 11th in the 200 back and Graviss 13th in the 400 IM.
Five Tiger women return to the pool as All-Americans, Four claimed individual honors a year ago, led by Abby Duncan (100 breast and 200 breast), Sharli Brady (200 fly and 400 IM), Katharine Ross (100 breast) and Hannah Stevens (100 back). Brady became the first Mizzou freshman swimmer to earn two individual All-American honors in program history.
Additionally, 20 Tigers (including freshman and transfers) will make their official debuts in black and gold this season. Leading the way are Western Kentucky transfers Fabian Schwingenschlogl and Nadine Laemmler. Schwingenschlogol is a three-time All-American, including a sixth-place finish in last year's 100 breast event at NCAAs. Lammler qualified for the NCAAs in both the 100 back and 200 back a year ago.
Following the Show-Me Showdown, both programs host Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference dual on Thursday, Oct. 15 at Noon at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
For complete coverage of the Mizzou swimming and diving team, log on to MUTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter, @MizzouSwimDive, or `like' the team on Facebook, Mizzou Swimming and Diving.
Schedule of Events
200 Medley Relay
200 Freestyle 200 IM
50 Freestyle
100 Butterfly
Women's 1-Meter and Men's 3-Meter Diving
500 Freestyle
200 Freestyle Relay
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
400 Freestyle Relay
Women's 3-Meter and Men's 1-Meter Diving
Scoring Format
Individual Scoring: Each team may score their top three finishers in each event. Top 16 places score.
Breakdown: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Relay Scoring: Each team can score only their top two relays in each event. Top 16 places score.
Breakdown: 40-34-32-30-28-26-24-22 18-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Number of Events: Each swimmer of diver may compete in a maximum of two individual events and two relays.
1-Meter Diving: Each team will do a diving scramble to try and score the largest point total. Each member on the team will do six dives covering all five groups with true degree of difficulty. The points from each diving group's highest scorer will count toward the team total score. The best score per diving group (front, back, reverse, inward, twist, 6th opt.) will count towards the total.
3-Meter Diving: Each diver will be required to do six dives from all five groups. No matter what first three dives the divers choose the degree of difficulty will be set at 2.0. The remaining three dives will be of true degree of difficulty.