University of Missouri
Bulldog Invitational
Tigers Thrive On First Day Of Georgia Fall Invitational
12/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Dec. 1, 2006
ATHENS, Ga. - The Missouri swimming and diving teams broke five school records and posted five NCAA provisional qualifying times on the first day of the Georgia Fall Invitational at the Gabrielsen Natatorium Friday.
Highlighting the action was the Tigers' 400 medley relay team of Travis Floyd, Martin Cernansky, Alex Zasadny and Bennett Clark who broke the eight-year-old school record with a time of 3:17.85. Clark's freestyle anchor leg of 43.18 over 100 yards was one of the fastest performance by a Tiger ever and helped better the old record (which current assistant coach Chris Peters swam on) by eight-tenths of a second.
Earlier in the meet, Clark posted his first `B' cut of the year in the 50 free by winning the silver in 20.12. That time is the second-fastest all=time at Mizzou and ranks first in the Big 12 this year.
Jill Granger and Colleen Gordon swam in the same 500 free heat in the prelims and both advanced to the finals by breaking Granger's school record from a year ago. In the finals, Granger broke the record again as she touched in 4:47.99. Gordon also recorded a provisional qualifying time in 4:51.36.
"All of those races were pretty exciting to say the least," Head coach Brian Hoffer said. "With the two of them going under 4:50 was just huge. We had never done that before and then have it happen in the same heat. Jill's time is a very strong B cut."
Kendra Melnychuk won the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 283.80 after trailing by seven points following the prelims. In the men's 1-meter competition, David Boyko and Greg DeStephen finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Ryan Meeker was ninth overall. Meeker's score of 284.45 would have placed third but since he finished ninth in the preliminaries, his scores did not advance into the championship final.
Shannon Hogan posted a 'B' cut time in the 50 free prelims and Lori Halvorson matched her in the morning session of the 200 individual medley.
In the final event of the night, the women's 400 medley relay swam the second-fastest time ever at MU with a 3:46.49.
"I think we will get better the next couple of days," Hoffer said. "It's a very good start to the weekend. Any time you break five school records in one day is a great way to start the meet."
Missouri totaled 171 points on the men's side and is in fourth place, while the women completed the first day with 182 points which is good for third among the six-team field.
Action continues Saturday with prelims at 10:30 a.m. CT with finals start at 6 p.m.
Players Mentioned
