Meet of the Week Preview: No. 11 Missouri-Rolla at No. 13 Truman State Men

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Arizona, January 23. WITH the college dual meet season winding down, SwimmingWorldMagazine.com's Meet of the Week program is also coming close to finishing its inaugural run. This weekend, we will feature three separate meets. At the Division I level, Maryland heads to North Carolina in an Atlantic Coast Conference battle, while the DII ranks offer up a men's meet between No. 11 Missouri-Rolla and No. 13 Truman State. Division III's meet will be a battle for supremacy in the state of Wisconsin as No. 6/3 Stevens Point swims against La Crosse.

Next week, we will feature:
Feb. 2, 2007, Ashland at Wayne State
Feb. 3, 2007, Rowan at Kutztown
Feb. 3-4, 2007, Harvard/Yale at Princeton

Here is a quick preview of the Missouri-Rolla/Truman State men's match-up:

Date and Time: Friday, January 26, 2007 – 6 p.m.
Location: Kirksville, Mo.
Facility: Pershing Natatorium
Collegeswimming.com Rankings (as of Jan. 22):
Missouri-Rolla: 11
Truman State: 13

Missouri-Rolla's Last Time Out:
Missouri-Rolla added a 200-point victory at the Washington University Invitational over Jan. 20-21 with a 957-point tally to defeat second-place Washington's total of 757. UMR swept the relay events at the meet.

Individually, Matt Hug and Tyler Stensby provided UMR its double-winners of the meet. Hug swept the distance freestyle events by winning the 500 (4:37.78) and the 1650 (16:00.32), while Stensby hit the wall first in the 100 back (51.85) and 100 fly (51.69).

Looking forward with Missouri-Rolla head coach Doug Grooms:
We are looking forward to the dual met this week in Kirksville. It will be our last meet before the New South Conference Championships Feb 14-17 so we look forward to racing and some great competition with the Bulldogs. Coach Gole has done a great job developing a young team and the sprinters look to be swimming well this season. I am sure with this being senior weekend will bring out a great crowd and create a hostile environment for us to compete in. Our team is looking forward to the challenge!

Truman State's Last Time Out:
Truman State won 19 overall events in a two-day dual-meet triumph over the University of Indianapolis, 153-52, which hosted the meet in the Circle City Jan. 12-13. The victory was the Bulldogs' first dual-meet win of the season.

On day one, TSU won both the 400 medley and freestyle relays, while Jason Stokes claimed a pair of event titles in the 50 free (21.66) and 100 free (48.55). During the second day, Truman State touched first in the 200 medley and freestyle relays, while Andrew Berdine notched a double in the 1000 free (9:59.18) and 200 IM (1:59.90).

Looking forward with Truman State head coach Mark Gole:
Every year, Missouri-Rolla is the dual meet that our men look forward to the most. This is an on-going rivalry that was established years ago. The past couple of years, Rolla has had our number in the duals as well as placing higher at the national meet. They will definitely make a push to leap into the top five this season, while we are going to make a run at the top 10. I believe that we will need to swim extremely smart and execute all of the little things to succeed. We have a handful of swimmers that have goals to qualify for nationals in individual events this year. This is a perfect opportunity for them to race heads up against some swimmers that have already achieved that this season, and placed in the top 10 in the nation in previous years. We will look to our veterans to provide some big swims in key situations. All in all, both teams should be pushed to swim in-season best times. This will be a very exciting meet from start to finish..

Top 2006-07 Times Comparison:
Men:
50 Free
UMR: 20.79, Chris Scheuber
TSU: 20.97, Tom Applegate
100 Free
UMR: 46.48, Mark Chamberlain
TSU: 47.23, Jason Stokes
200 Free
UMR: 1:41.60, Matt Hug
TSU: 1:43.90, Alex Totura
500 Free
UMR: 4:31.32, Matt Hug
TSU: 4:44.89, Andrew Berdine
1000 Free
UMR: 9:31.93, Matt Hug
TSU: 9:59.02, Kyle Ruiz
1650 Free
UMR: 15:47.06, Matt Hug
TSU: 16:31.76, Kyle Ruiz
100 Back
UMR: 50.84, Travis Stensby
TSU: 51.93, Robert Fletcher
200 Back
UMR: 1:52.04, Kyle Kammer
TSU: 1:52.60, Robert Fletcher
100 Breast
UMR: 57.43, Matt Adams
TSU: 59.18, Bryce Harken
200 Breast
UMR: 2:04.84, Matt Hammond
TSU: 2:10.19, Matt Schwiebert
100 Fly
UMR: 49.58, Travis Stensby
TSU: 51.41, Ryan Ferrell
200 Fly
UMR: 1:53.64, Travis Stensby
TSU: 1:59.99, Kevin Johnson
200 IM
UMR: 1:53.56, Matt Adams
TSU: 1:59.90, Andrew Berdine
400 IM
UMR: 4:08.97, Matt Hammond
TSU: 4:09.14, Andrew Berdine
200 Free Relay
UMR: 1:22.50
TSU: 1:23.17
400 Free Relay
UMR: 3:07.54
TSU: 3:06.56
800 Free Relay
UMR: 6:53.59
TSU: 6:54.87
200 Medley Relay
UMR: 1:33.17
TSU: 1:33.61
400 Medley Relay
UMR: 3:23.81
TSU: 3:29.46

* – denotes meter conversion

MOTW, Missouri-Rolla at Truman State Logo

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