Missouri Invite: Day Three

COLUMBIA, Missouri, December 7. WITH a few strong finishes on the final day, the Missouri men's swimming and diving team won the 2009 Mizzou Invite on Sunday at the Mizzou Aquatics Center.

The Tigers finished with 1171 points, with Drury University finishing second with 868 points and Southern Illinois third with 566 points.

"We started a little slow today, but I think the guys really turned it on in the finals," Tiger coach Brian Hoffer said. "We had a lot of guys do some great things in this meet, and the competition will give us the opportunity to grow heading into the next meet."

The 400 free relay team of Jordan Hawley, Anders Melin, Cameron Sellers and Jeff Hendricks finished first in 3:00.32, hitting a provisional NCAA mark in the process. Coming in third place was the group of Ryan Sellers, Jan Konarzewski, Joe Hladik and Scott Martin who finished in 3:04.59.

Mizzou finished 1-2-3 in the 100 free led by Hawley who finished first for a meet record in 43.91 seconds, Melin in second in 45.93 seconds and Hendricks in third in 46.10 seconds.

Konarzewski finished first in the 200 back in a time of 1:44.87 to set a new meet record, while Ryan Sellers finished third in 1:48.05 and John Higgins finished fourth in 1:49.17.

In the men's platform diving finals, Mizzou divers swept the top three spots with Greg DeStephen winning his second event of the invite with 377.15 points. Dante Jones took second with 344 points and Dallas Becerra third with 225.25 points.

Spenser Lauver took second in the 1650 free race, finishing in 15:35.39, while Vito Cammisano finished fifth with a time of 15:58.32.

Cameron Sellers finished second in the in the 200 fly, clocking in at 1:50.67, with Lauver rounding out the scoring for the Tigers coming in eighth place in 1:55.67.

After having a sizeable lead after Saturday's events, the Missouri women's swimming and diving teams won the 2009 Mizzou Invite Sunday night at the Mizzou Aquatics Center.

The Tigers held strong over Pac-10 conference member Arizona State University on the day as the Tigers finished with 1109.5 points, while the Sun Devils ended the meet with 839 total points. Nebraska came in third with 585 points.

"I was very proud of the way the team competed this weekend," coach Brian Hoffer said. "I think this gives us a very good point of reference heading into the winter training period and into the new year."

In the 400 free relay, the team of Kim Jasmer, Lisa Nathanson, Cassie Cunningham and Colleen Gordon hit the NCAA provisional mark in the event, finishing first in 3:23.01.

Dominique Bouchard set a meet record in her first place finish in the 200 back race, winning in 1:55.55, while Lauren Lavigna finished second in 1:57.53.

Melissa Jamerson won the 200 fly race in 2:00.59 to set a new meet record, while Gordon finished fourth in 2:04.98.

In the first platform diving event for the squad this year, the Tigers took three of five spots in the top portion of the event led by Christina Gailey who finished first with 245.45 points, Abby Zepeda second with 229.50 points and Sharon Finn fifth with 202.60.

Jasmer finished second in the 100 free event, clocking in at 50.23 seconds, with Nathanson finishing seventh in 51.50 seconds. In the 200 breast event, Durnil and Ripley finished second and third in the event with Durnil clocking in at 2:16.44 and Ripley in 2:18.79.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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