Mizzou Notches Three Top 12 Finishes on Friday at the NCAA Championships

Friday, March 26

Greensboro, N.C.

9 a.m. CT / 5 p.m. CT

University of Missouri

NCAA Championships

Mizzou Notches Three Top 12 Finishes on Friday at the NCAA Championships

3/26/2021 9:13:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Danny Kovac (Fort Collins, Colo.) placed fifth in the 100 fly and two other Tigers claimed top 12 finishes during Friday action at the 2021 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C. With one day of competition remaining, Mizzou sits 12th in the team standings with 67 points.

Kovac lowered his own school record in the 100 fly en route to All-America first team honors in the event. Additionally, junior Jack Dahlgren (Victoria, Minn.) and sophomore Ben Patton (Wichita, Kan.) both claimed All-America honorable mention accolades with finishes of 11th in the 200 free and 12th in the 100 breast, respectively.

KEY PERFORMANCES

After a prelims swim of 45.00, Kovac dropped a 44.66 in the 100 fly championship final to break his own school record in the event. The 44.66 was good enough for fifth-place, the junior's second top seven finish in as many days, as he also took seventh in the 200 IM on Thursday.

Dahlgren improved nine places from his seed to take 11th overall in the 200 free. Dahlgren, who entered the meet seeded 20th, clocked a personal-best 1:32.80 in prelims and was close to that in finals with a 1:32.98.

Patton finished 17th in preliminaries, one spot out of advancing, but was bumped up to the consolation final after a medical scratch during the afternoon. The sophomore took advantage of opportunity, placing fourth in the B final for an overall finish of 12th. Patton went 51.84 in the final, just off his personal-best of 51.80, and an improvement over his prelims time of 52.21.

QUOTABLES

Mizzou head coach Andrew Grevers
"We were all about moving up tonight. Danny (Kovac) was able to move up from his morning swim in the 100 fly, and the same for Jack (Dahlgren) in the 200 free. Ben (Patton) was able to make the most out of his scratch and move up quite a bit himself. We're certainly building momentum going into the final day of the NCAA Championships and I can't to see where we end up tomorrow."

UP NEXT

Final day action at the 2021 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships continues on Saturday, March 27 with swimming prelims at 9 a.m. CT, diving prelims at 11 a.m. CT, early heats of the 1650 at 2:45 p.m. CT and finals at 5 p.m. CT.