Feb. 20, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. -
The Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving teams head to College Station, Texas this week to compete in the 2005 Big 12 Championships.
The Tiger men (6-2, 0-1 Big 12) are coming off their best season since the 1999-00 campaign, when they also posted a 6-2 record. They enter the conference championships having earned victories in six of their last seven dual meets, including the first win at Iowa in head coach Brian Hoffer's tenure.
Senior Matt North in, the breaststroke and IM events, and senior Chris McCrary, in the sprint free and butterfly, will lead Mizzou in the pool. Junior Evan Watters, who set a new school record (387.85) in the 3-meter dive in the Tigers' win over Southern Illinois earlier this season, will pace the Mizzou squad on the boards.
"North is our top breaststroker and an NCAA bubble guy," Hoffer said. "He can really step it up for us. Chris McCrary will be counted on, too. He's a guy with national experience. Evan Watters has been our top diver all year. He's been competing well, and even broke his own school record."
North turned in top-5 finishes in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the 2004 Big 12 Championships, while Watters placed in the top-5 on all three boards at last year's meet, including a runner-up performance in the 1-meter dive. McCrary, in his first season with the Tigers, is a three-time NCAA qualifier and competed at the 2000 United States Olympic Trials.
The remainder of the Mizzou men's team boasts a combined 12 top-10 finishes at the conference championship level, with junior Chris Lukas (200 backstroke in 2004) and sophomore Peter Willett (400 IM in 2004) owning the team's two top-5 performances.
"We have a relatively new team, so we're looking to put in four solid days of swimming and diving," Hoffer said. "Some people have opportunities to excel. Our goal is to hit NCAA times and get PR's. That's what we've been training for."
The competition in College Station will surely be fierce, as Texas vies for its 26th consecutive men's conference title and sixteenth-ranked Texas A&M looks to improve on last year's second-place finish. Mizzou placed third in last year's event.
"Texas is hard to match up with," Hoffer said. "They just beat fourth-ranked Arizona. Texas is the team to beat on the men's side. A&M is interesting. They're faster than us, but we have more depth. Anything can happen."
The Mizzou women have already proved that anything can happen this season when they knocked off undefeated Nebraska in their last dual meet of the year to give themselves momentum heading into this week's conference championships. The women are 7-2 on the year and 3-1 in Big 12 competition.
"We just need to keep doing what we've been doing," Hoffer said. "We've won close meets all year. The key is to work as a team. We have to be able to generate our own energy, create energy from within."
The Tigers are led by a group of six senior swimmers that boasts six top-10 finishes in last year's conference championships, led by two each from Mariona Costa and Amanda Morford. Seniors Lindsay Palbykin, the team captain, and Becca Dawson have led Mizzou this season in the freestyle and butterfly, respectively.
"The senior class is the reason we've been successful this season," Hoffer said. "Palbykin swam well all year. She needs to mix it up for us at conference, and so does Becca Dawson. Mariona Costa has also been swimming really well all year."
Several Tiger women head into the conference championships with individual momentum carrying over from the Nebraska win. Sophomore Amy Charley (200 IM), Morford (100 back), Dawson (200 fly), sophomore Shannon Hogan (50 free), Palbykin (100 free), freshman Sarah Menefee (200 back) and Costa (200 breast) all joined Charley as individual winners against the Cornhuskers.
The 2005 Big 12 Championships will take place from Wednesday, Feb. 23 to Saturday, Feb. 26.
