The Mizzou men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs went a perfect 5-0 in action against Kentucky, Northwestern and Southern Illinois after day two action on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. The men defeated Southeastern Conference foe Kentucky (193.5-144.5), SIU (228-110) and Northwestern (233-105), while the women were victorious over Kentucky (214-124) and SIU (224-114).
The Tigers combined to win 23 events during the two day meet, led by four from junior Michael Chadwick. After wins in the 200 IM and 100 free on Friday, Chadwick placed first in the 50 free and 200 free Saturday. The junior clocked a 19.87 in the 50 free to finish ahead of senior Matthew Margritier (20.46), and a 1:37.72 in the 200 free.
In the diving well, senior Clark Thomas added the 3-meter victory to his win on 1-meter yesterday. He tallied a season best score of 377.55 to place first on 3-meter Saturday.
Saturday action started with a 200 medley relay sweep for the Tigers. On the women’s side, the quartet of junior Nadine Laemmler, freshman Maddie Gehrke and seniors Abby Duncan and Anna Patterson posted a time of 1:41.58 for first, while the men’s team of junior Carter Griffin, juniors Fabian Schwingenschlogl and Andrew Sansoucie and senior Matthew Margritier touched the wall in 1:29.41.
In the women’s 50 free, Gehrke earned a first-place finish after a swim of 23.80, just ahead of Patterson in second (23.84) and sophomore Rachel Hayden in third (23.85).
The Tigers went one-two in the women’s 100 back, led by sophomore Hannah Stevens and Laemmler. Stevens proved victorious in a time of 54.78, while Laemmler took second after touching in 55.02.
Schwingenschlogl added a win in the 200 breast on Saturday to his first-place finish in the 100 a day ago. The junior clocked a 2:00.00 for the win, ahead of sophomore Jordy Groters in third (2:04.37) and junior Eddie Mapel in fourth (2:05.50).
On the women’s side, Duncan claimed top honors after a swim of 2:12.48, while junior Katharine Ross was second in 2:15.83.
Hayden completed a 100-200 free sweep Saturday with a first-place finish in the 200 in a time of 1:51.30. Sophomore Kira Zubar took third in 1:51.53 and freshman Aurore Jacolin was fourth in 1:52.86.
Mizzou’s final winner of the day was junior Andrew Sansoucie, who clocked a season best time of 48.65 in the 100 fly.
The Tiger men’s and women’s relay teams competed in exhibition in the 400 free relay. The men’s squad of freshman Mikel Schreuders, Margritier, Groters and Chadwick finished in 2:58.94 and the women’s team of Patterson, Hayden, Stevens and Brady went 3:26.98, times that would have placed first.
Missouri is idle for two weeks until they travel to compete in the three-day Tennessee Invite. The meet begins Friday, Nov. 20 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 22, with prelims and finals each day.
Kentucky
The Kentucky swimming and diving team finished up the second day of the Mizzou Quad meet on Saturday, securing wins over both Southern Illinois and Northwestern while falling to host No. 15/19 Missouri. Against the Salukis, the men captured a 239-106 victory while the women recorded a 238-106 win. Only the men’s team took on Northwestern, downing the Big Ten Wildcats, 231.5-112.5. Both teams dropped to Mizzou, with the men falling in a 193.5-144.5 decision while the women dropped a 214-124 contest.
With the weekend’s results, the men advance to 2-5 on the season with a 0-3 record in the Southeastern Conference. The women now stand at 1-6 overall and 0-4 in league dual action.
The team showed improvement from yesterday’s competition, recording seven overall victories. The women picked up three wins, while the men had four. Additionally, the women won eight of the 10 events against Southern Illinois and four against Mizzou, while the men won eight against both the Salukis and the Wildcats as well as four over the Tigers.
Brandon Flynn highlighted the meet for the Blue and White with an overall victory in the 400 IM. The junior held a commanding lead over the field in 3:53.52, which is not only an NCAA B cut but is also the ninth-fastest mark in the nation for this season. Flynn also led a sweep of the event against the Salukis, with Andrew Aviotti and Sam Day finishing second and third against SIU in 4:07.07 and 4:09.36, respectively.
Flynn also captured a victory over both SIU and NU in the 200 breast after churning out a season-best 2:04.03, finishing second to Mizzou behind All-American Fabian Schwingenschlogl.
Aviotti paced the Wildcats in an overall win in the 1000 free, clinching a close race over SIU’s Michael Wolfe in 9:18.18. Along with Jamie Stevenson and Bowen Anderson, the trio swept the Tigers, with Stevenson posting a time of 9:25.75 and Anderson completing the trifecta in 9:27.10.
The final individual overall win for the men came from Walker Thaning in the 100 back, who finished in 50.16 seconds with just under one-tenth of a second margin of victory. Against Northwestern, Thaning ad Josh Swart held the top two spots, with the freshman Wildcat finishing in 50.68, also placing third against both Mizzou and SIU.
In the remaining individual races, Kentucky had at least one dual victory in each event. Sean Gunn turned in a winning 50 free performance over SIU, taking second to Northwestern and tying for third with Mizzou in 20.89 seconds. Gunn also swam in the 200 free, rounding out a sweep over Northwestern along with Scott Crosthwaite and Isaac Jones. Crosthwaite led the pack in 1:39.84 to take runner-up against MU and SIU, while Jones’s time of 1:40.09 was good for third against MU and SIU as well as second against NU. Gunn posted a mark of 1:40.33, placing third against Northwestern and fourth in the Mizzou and Southern Illinois duals.
Kyle Higgins and Matt Roman went 1-2 over Northwestern in the 100 fly in 49.28 and 50.38 seconds. Higgins finished second overall behind a Mizzou athlete, taking the win against Southern Illinois.
On the 3-meter springboard, Seb Masterton won over both Northwestern and Southern Illinois with his score of 335.55 points, finishing runner-up overall. Against the Salukis, Masterton led a sweep along with Levi Lindsey’s 308.80 points and Stephen Jou’s 286.80 points.
The men also saw success in the relays, taking an overall victory in the 400 free relay thanks to Gunn, Crosthwaite, Higgins and Jones in 3:02.84. The 200 medley relay lineup of Thaning, Mike Summe, Roman and Cobe Garcia finished in 1:32.34, winning against Southern Illinois and finishing behind both MU and NU.
The women saw two individual victories from a pair of freshmen. Kathryn Painter delivered success in the 400 IM, winning just two and a half seconds away from an NCAA B cut in 4:21.88. The freshman also wrote herself into the UK record books, posting the 10th-fastest time in program laurels. The event was a sweep for the Wildcats with Danielle Galyer finishing second in 4:25.15 and Ann Davies placing third in 4:29.19.
Haley McInerny took the other overall title in individual swims, matching her UK career best of 55.00 seconds. Paired with Kate Kelly’s time of 57.02 seconds, the duo claimed the top two spots against the Salukis.
Kentucky posted sweeps against SIU in the 100 back, 200 free and 200 breast as well. Galyer led the team in the backstroke, finishing third overall in 55.14 seconds. Bridgette Alexander placed immediately behind Galyer in 55.69 seconds, and Kristen Keifer took third against SIU in 58.80 seconds. The 200 free was led by Geena Freriks in 1:51.48, just missing out on an overall win by less than two-hundredths of a second. Meredith Whisenhunt and Kendal Casey finished second and third against SIU in 1:53.06 and 1:53.09. Freriks also led the team in the 50 free in 23.94 seconds, taking fourth overall but winning over SIU.
Kendra Crew led the 200 breast, finishing third overall behind two of the nation’s strongest breaststrokers in 2:18.60. Ann Davies was fourth overall in 2:20.46, good for second against the Salukis, and Allyson Dupay touched in at 2:22.84 for third against SIU.
On the 1-meter springboard, Courtney Clark and Kailey Francetic finished second and third, respectively, 3against SIU with 249.15 and 247.70 points.
The women picked up an overall relay win in the 400 free, as McInerny, Alexander, Casey and Whisenhunt combined for the fastest time of the season in 3:27.64. Kentucky also secured another win over SIU in the 200 medley relay, placing behind Mizzou with Galyer, Crew, McInerny and Freriks’s combined time of 1:44.39.
Kentucky will take a two-week break in preparation for the Ohio State Invitational. The Wildcats will head to Columbus, Ohio, for a three-day meet on Nov. 20-22.
“I thought we were pretty good today. A little inconsistent; some good, some not so good or need to be better,” noted head coach Lars Jorgensen. “So I’m looking forward to being really good two weeks from now.”
Southern Illinois
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams came away with impressive performances and finishes against some of the top teams in the nation this weekend at the two-day quad meet at Missouri. The Saluki men came away with an 11-point win over Northwestern, earning bragging rights in the state as a top men’s swimming program.
“For the longest time Northwestern has beaten us and we just haven’t been in the same category,” head coach Rick Walker said. “This weekend was different.”
Both the SIU men and women took on tough opponents in nationally ranked teams from Missouri along with impressive squads from Kentucky, both of which received votes in the CSCAA coaches’ poll. Despite top performances from SIU, including several season-bests, the men’s and women’s teams fell to both Mizzou and Kentucky.
“They’re top-25 programs, and while we’re trying to get times in the top-100, they’re in the top-five. But we did ourselves proud this weekend,” Walker said.
The Saluki men finished with 12 wins over Northwestern, including several season bests. The meet started with an impressive 200-yard freestyle relay where the Salukis finished with their best time of the season at 1:23.23 by Joao Facciotti, Andre Brilhante, Lucas de Aquino and Till Pallmann. Per usual, the Salukis’ freestyle success continued with strong performances by Michael Wolfe in the 500-yard freestyle and Pallmann in the 100-yard freestyle. Pallmann not only topped Northwestern, but also finished ahead of Kentucky coming in at 44.96, the fastest time for SIU this season.
Lucas de Aquino finished Day One with the third best 200-yard butterfly finish, coming in at 1:50.15, beating SIU’s previous best 200 fly finish by nearly five seconds. At the conclusion of Day One, the Salukis trailed Northwestern by only one point.
After being named MVC Swimmer of the Week for the second time this season, sophomore Bryn Handley was the highlight of Day One on the women’s side, coming in first overall in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:51.97. Prior to this weekend, Handley ranked No. 80 in the nation in the 500 free at 4:57.36. The Salukis also came in with season best times in the 200-yard freestyle relay , the 100-yard breaststroke (Liane Tatigian), the 200-yard backstroke (Katy Ovington) and 200-yard butterfly (Kelsie Walker). Kaixuan ‘Sherry’ Zhang also finished in first place in the women’s three-meter dive with a score of 349.45.
Day Two of the meet resulted in even more season-bests for the Salukis, on both the men’s and women’s side. Michael Wolfe had another impressive freestyle swim, topping swimmers from Missouri and Northwestern and coming in second against Kentucky in the 1,000-yard freestyle at 9:19.49. Pallmann came on strong in the 100-backstroke at 50.24 along with the 200-yard freestyle, coming in second overall with a 1:38.85 finish, beating his previous season-best that ranked 63rd in the nation. Andy Ross and Bobby Wood had a one-two finish over Northwestern in the 200-yard breaststroke, while Lucas de Aquino second to Mizzou and Kentucky and first over Northwestern in the 100-yard butterfly.
Bryn Handley finished Day Two with yet another top finish, coming in first overall in the 1,000-yard freestyle at 10:02.38, once again beating her No. 25 ranked time, 10:02.91. The Salukis had a top finish in the 400-yard freestyle as well, finishing in second place behind Kentucky at 3:32.01. Kaixuan ‘Sherry’ Zhang once again came out on top in the one-meter dive with a 307.85, remaining undefeated in both the one- and three-meter dives this season.
“What I’m always looking for is a group of athletes that regardless of whether they’re tired or rested, they’re going to step up there and compete hard and swim fast. We’re starting to see that really coming through and I think our athletes out to be proud of themselves,” Walker said.
The Salukis will take a week off from competition and will return to the pool on Friday, Nov. 20 for the start of the three-day Purdue Invite.
