University of Missouri
Texas A&M
Missouri Swimming and Diving Defeated by Texas A&M
10/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 18, 2003
Ames, Ia. - The University of Missouri swimming and diving teams were defeated by the Texas A&M Aggies this morning. The women's team, who had beaten the Aggies in their previous two encounters, lost by a score of 178.5-121.5. The men, who have now fallen to Texas A&M in their last three meetings, lost by a score of 182-114.
For the men, senior Tyler Belanger finished second in the 50-yard freestyle narrowly missing first place by just a few hundredths of a second. Junior Matt North had one of the strongest meets of his career today. North finished first in the 200 breaststroke with a score of 2:03.1, narrowly missing his career best time of 2:02.49. North also added a second place finish in the 200 IM.
Several underclassmen stepped up for the Tigers today. Sophomore David Darmitzel showed that training hard pays off as he set new career bests in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Darmitzel also added a second place finish in the 200 butterfly. Sophomore Evan Watters finished first on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Sophomore Chris Lukas added a second place finish in the 200 backstroke for the Tigers as well.
"The men swam great today. They really exceeded my expectations against a top-20 team. I wish we could have found a way to beat A&M, but I am still very pleased with the way the men performed," said Missouri Head Coach Brian Hoffer.
The Missouri women had won the previous two meetings with the Aggies and were looking to make it a three-peat, but A&M was not looking to lose three in a row to the Tigers.
Senior Rebecca Wolfe was able to claim one of the few first place finishes that MU had. Wolfe finished first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:24.95. Senior Andrea Nigh also added a first place finish in the 50 freestyle.
Junior Mariona Costa finished first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:20.60, just over three seconds off her career best time. Freshman Amy Charley, coming off a career best performance against Auburn last weekend, had another strong performance as she finished third in the 200 breaststroke.
In the diving well, freshman Kim Massaro finished first on the 1-meter board and second on the 3-meter board.
"We really had a hard time winning races," said Hoffer. "We missed a lot of touches at the end and A&M was able to find a way to do better than us and beat us today."
Up next for the Tigers is a dual meet against Truman State at the University Natatorium on October 31 at 5:00 PM.
Players Mentioned
