Missouri
The Mizzou men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs opened their 2015-16 seasons Friday with titles at the 10th annual Show-Me Showdown Friday afternoon at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
Junior Michael Chadwick and sophomores Hannah Stevens and Kira Zubar each earned two event wins to lead the Tigers. Chadwick swept the 50 free and 100 free events, Stevens won the 100 free and 100 back and Zubar claimed victories in the 200 free and 500 free.
In the diving well, the Tigers swept the 1-meter scrambles and the 3-meter competitions. Freshman Kyle Goodwin scored a 328.40 to win men’s 3-meter, ahead of sophomore Hunter Fritter (305.90). Sophomore Alex Beckwith took home the women’s 3-meter crown with a total of 290.35. Additionally, senior Clark Thomas won the 1-meter scramble with a score of 395.35 and freshman Payton Conrad won the women’s event in 313.95.
Mizzou opened the meet with wins in both the men’s and women’s 200 medley relays. The women’s A team of junior Nadine Laemmler, redshirt senior Abby Duncan, senior Anna Patterson and sophomore Rachel Hayden clocked a 1:42.42 for the crown, while the men’s A foursome of senior Dillon Love, junior Fabian Schwingenschlogl, junior Andrew Sansoucie and junior Michael Chadwick swam a 1:29.22 to take first.
Zubar claimed her first win of the day in the 200 free after a swim of 1:51.46. She led a Mizzou sweep of the top five finishers, as freshman Aurore Jacolin took second (1:42.05), freshman Courtney Evensen was third (1:53.07), Patterson fourth (1:53.19) and junior Brittany Hammond placed fifth (1:54.16).
On the men’s side, freshman Mikel Schreuders won his first career event crown with a 1:39.91 in the 200 free.
The Tigers claimed the top four places in the women’s 200 IM, led by junior Katharine Ross’ 2:02.71, which was good enough for first. Duncan took second in 2:03.71, junior Ellie Suek third in 2:06.27 and Laemmler was fourth in 2:06.88.
In the men’s 50 free, Chadwick swam an easy 20.27 to place first, ahead of classmate Sansoucie, who touched the wall in 20.75 to take second.
Sansoucie won an event of his own in the 100 fly after a swim of 48.88 to take top honors. On the women’s side, sophomore Erin Metzger-Seymour took first in 55.75, while Patterson was third in 58.00.
Chadwick’s sprint freestyle sweep was complete with a win in the 100 free in a time of 44.20. Schreuders continued his impressive swimming with a 45.90 in the event to take third.
The women’s 100 free went to Stevens after a swim of 51.59. Hayden placed third in 52.59, Jacolin fourth in 52.81 and junior Victoria Trost was fifth in 52.89.
Zubar swam away from the field in the 500 free, winning in a time of 4:57.57, more than six seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Evensen was third in the event after a time of 5:03.97.
Stevens led a one-through-six finish for the Tigers in the 100 back, as she took top honors in a time of 55.52. Laemmler finished second in 55.87 and freshman Maddie Gehrke was third in 57.40.
On the men’s side, junior Carter Griffin swam a 49.80 to win the 100 back, while freshman Alex Walton placed fourth in 50.81.
Transfer Schwingenschlogl wasted little time making an impact on the Mizzou squad with a win in the 100 breast in a time of 54.63, good enough to rank him eighth all-time at Mizzou in the event. Junior Eddie Mapel touched second in the race with a 56.48.
Duncan outtouched Ross 1:00.56 to 1:00.70 to claim first-place in the 100 breast, while senior Miranda Mercke was third in a time of 1:05.65.
Both squads earned wins in the 400 free relay to close the meet. The men’s team of Chadwick, Schreuders, senior Levi Hanks and Griffin clocked a 3:01.60, while the women’s quartet of Patterson, Evensen, Metzger-Seymour and Suek won in 3:29.69.
The men’s and women’s programs are back in action on Thursday, Oct. 15 when the team hosts Tennessee at the Mizzou Aquatic Center at Noon.
Missouri State
Several Bears made top-10 appearances as the Missouri State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up competition at the Show-Me Showdown on Friday, Oct. 2, at the Mizzou Aquatics Center.
The Bears’ men’s team finished runner-up out of 11 teams in the Showdown with 365 points, ahead of third-place finisher Lindenwood (329) and behind the host Missouri Tigers, which finished with 682. The MSU women’s team placed third out of 10 schools with 332 points, narrowly trailing runner-up Drury (346) and falling to the Tigers which scored 711 points.
Two seniors had top performances for their teams as Uvis Kalnins and Dora Kiss led the way for the Bears’ men’s and women’s squads. Kalnins won the 200 individual medley in a time of 1 minute, 49.16 seconds and finished second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.15. Kiss got runner-up in the 500 free (5:03.71) and sixth in the 200 free (1:54.40).
“Today I was very proud to be part of this team because we have never been this close to each other this early in the season,” Dora Kiss said. “Everyone cheered and took part in the action. We had so many good swims already and I cannot wait for the upcoming dual meets.”
MSU’s men’s team had two events in which the Bears placed three in the top-10 standings.
Freshman Minki Kang was the top finisher for the Bears in the 500 free, placing third in a time of 4:37.87. Senior Miguel Davila and junior Brandon Weissman got fifth and sixth, respectively, in the event by touching in at 4:41.61 4:43.06. Following Kalnins in the 200 IM, freshmen Bryce Blattner and Nicholas Theunissen went 9-10 with finishes of 1:55.43 and 1:56.30, respectively.
Blattner also had a second top-10 showing, placing ninth in the 100 backstroke (52.58).
“My first swim meet as a collegiate athlete was a great experience,” Bryce Blattner said. “I’ve never had to swim as tired at a meet as I did today, but overall I feel like I swam very well and competed at a high level!”
A variety of freshmen made big splashes in their first collegiate meets for the Bears.
Hope Ernhart, Loretta Stelnicki, Kaylee Larson, Josie Pearson and Brianna McCullough all finished in the top 10 in at least one event on the women’s side, while Theunissen, Artur Osvath and Michael Mollak also had strong top-10 showings on the men’s team.
Pearson had one of the top performances on the day for the Bears’ women’s team, touching the wall in a time of 57.49 in the 100 butterfly for a runner-up finish.
“With this being my first meet, I was rather pleased with the results,” Josie Pearson said. “My goal was to race hard today and I feel like I did just that. This was a great new experience and I’m excited to see how the rest of the season goes.”
Notable efforts from returners on the women’s squad included sophomore Sydney Zupan, who placed seventh in the 100 back (58.88) and broke her personal-best she set at last season’s showdown in the 200 free with a time of 1:55.66. Junior Lauren Pavel placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.29), sophomore Emma Metz got ninth in the 500 free (5:11.71) and sophomore Hanna Flanagan earned 10th in the 100 fly (59.47).
Sophomore Kacper Cwiek earned eighth and ninth in the 200 free (1:43.14) and 100 fly (46.81), respectively, while Will Brand got ninth in the 100 free (46.81).
Missouri State’s top relay finishes came in the 400 free relay, as the men’s squad of Kalnins, Mollak, Brand and Cwiek took runner-up in 3:05.22, and the women’s squad of Zupan, Ernhart, Kiss and Stelnicki got fourth 3:34.90.
“I am pleased with how we competed today,” Bears head coach Dave Collins said. “It was great to get the season started. The highlight was probably watching all the freshmen race for the first time as Bears. We have a lot to be excited about.”
Missouri State returns to Hammons Student Center for its next four events. A dual against Evansville begins action next weekend on Friday, Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. and Southern Illinois comes to Springfield for a dual at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10.
Washington U./St. Louis
The Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's swimming and diving teams combined to post 16 top-10 finishes as the Bears finished sixth in the men's team standings and seventh in the women's at the Show-Me Showdown Friday afternoon at the University of Missouri.
The WashU men scored 233 points to finish sixth out of 11 teams at the meet, while the women scored 201 to finish seventh out of 10 teams. Host University of Missouri finished first in both team standings.
Senior Reed Dalton posted the top finish of the day for WashU, swimming to second place in the men's 100 butterfly with a B-cut time of 49.49 seconds. Freshman Brandon Lum finished seventh in the event with a season-best time of 51.14.
Dalton also swam on a pair of top-10 relay finishes for the Bears. He teamed with sophomore Ross Brown, freshman Kevin Van Cleave and junior Justin Morrell to place seventh in the 400-free relay in a time of 3:09.59. Van Cleave, Dalton, Morrell and junior Reese Frerichs also finished eighth in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:34.59. Morrell added a ninth-place finish in the 50 free with a season-best time of 21.36.
Junior Emily Ramos placed in the top-10 of both women's diving events. She placed third in the one-meter event (220.80) and was 10th in the three-meter diving (190.40), season-best scores in both. Freshman Lauren Sapp had the lone top-10 individual finish in the swimming events for the WashU women. She placed ninth in the 100 butterfly in 59.17.
The WashU women also had a pair of top-10 relay finishes. Sophomore Niamh O'Grady, senior Kristalyn McAfee, Sapp and junior MariMac Collins teamed up to place eighth in the 400-free relay in 3:38.18. Senior Katie Anderson, freshmen Isabel Kennon and Maddie Robinson, and McAfee added a ninth-place finish in the 200-free relay in 1:41.03.
Sophomore Ryan Nathenson placed fourth in the men's one-meter diving with a season-best score of 205.60, and also had a career-best score of 189.05 to finish seventh in the three-meter diving. Junior Michael Lagieski posted a seventh-place finish in the 100 butterfly (57.76), and junior Andrew Ellison (4:44.47) and Van Cleave (4:45.39) placed ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 500 free. The Bears' other top-10 finish came in the men's 200-free relay with senior Kaisen Yao, sophomore TJ Dawson, senior RJ Petrella and Brown teaming up to finish ninth in 1:27.20.
The WashU men's and women's swimming & diving teams return to action Saturday, Oct. 31, when they host DePauw University for a dual meet. Action is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Millstone Pool.
