The Missouri Tigers welcomed in conference opponent Vanderbilt (women) and D2 McKendree (men/women) to the gorgeous Mizzou Aquatic Center — I love that place and have such fond memories of it from my coaching
days — on November 1, and came away with a very convincing sweep in the double dual, with the men beating McKendree 213.50 to 85.50, and the women knocking off Vandy 236 t0 57 and McKendree, 244 to 40. The Tigers dominated, taking first through third places in 16 of 32 events. Wow.
Head coach Andrew Grevers said (via MU Tigers), “”I’m very proud of how the athletes put the focus on organizing, implementing and executing their processes from the moment they showed up this morning through the entire meet. The Tigers focused on the right things and are growing and getting better because of it. We seem to have our heads in the right place as we look forward to the Mizzou Invite in three weeks.”
The 200 Medley Relay kicked off the meet on a high note, with the Tigers’ B team of Libby Bakker, Zara Zallen, Kylee Sullivan and Katie Kuehn, pulling away from the Tigers’ A team of Bales, Bank, Hanson & Smith) to take the top spot. Sullivan’s 50 fly leg of 22.84 was smoking, y’all, and almost was as fast as Kuehn’s 22.74 freestyle anchor.
On the men’s side, the Tigers’ A team of junior Quinlan Gould, junior Logan Ottke, sophomore Luke Nebrich and senior Francois Malherbe beat out the Tigers’ B team (Zubik, Johnson, Judkins, Tate) with a 1:25.20.
In the 1000 free, Peyton Drexler swam a lifetime best (or at least faster than my records from last season indicated) 9:52.65 and took top billing while putting together some incredibly consistent 100 splits throughout the race, holding steady in the middle 100s between 59.5-59.7. In fact, she only had one 100 the entire race that wasn’t sub-1:00 (the ninth one). Danielle Gleason’s runner up finish of 10:21.20 was a full 8 seconds faster than her time at the Purdue opener. On the men’s side, McKendree’s Jacob Rynkiewicz pulled away for an easy win, while Conner Boatright (9:24.61) and Sebastian Gonzalez-Barboza (9:31.23) took second and third, respectively. Boatright’s time was just a touch faster than the Purdue opener (about 2/10) and is his fastest Mizzou time to date, while Barboza swam the 1000 for the first time this season.
One of my favorite events, the 200 free, featured the Tigers sweeping slots 1-4, as Zara Zallen’s 1:47.80 took the top spot and was a good six seconds faster than the first meet. It’s still about 1.5 off her lifetime best, but a really solid swim this early in the season. Piper McNeil’s second place 1:49.23 was a season best by about 4 seconds, and was just ahead of Zoe Schneider (1:49.80), who dropped about 5 seconds, and Katie Gresik, who swam an exhibition 1:51.70 for her first 2Free of the season.
On the men’s side, Francois Malherbe out-touched McKendree’s Tyson Upton to take the top spot with a 1;38.14, just a half second off his time at Purdue, while Matthew Mortenson swam the 2Free for the first time this season, coming in third with a solid 1:39.43.
The 100 back followed, an event I was so good as a little kid — my arms spun SO FAST — and freshman speedster Libby Bakker (54.21) won her first of two events on the day, out-touching both her teammate Sydney Bales (54.54) and Vandy’s Aubrey Hall to take the W. Both Bakker and Bales took a good second-plus off their times at the opener. On the men’s side, Arizona State transfer Quinlan Gould won in 46.47, while teammate Griffin Craig tied for second with McKendree’s Joey Ovanic with a 50.07.
The 100 breast featured Tiger superstar Lina Bank, who touched first in a 1:00.10, while teammate Paige Striley held off a surging Melissa Cowen (Vandy) for second, finishing with a 1:02.22. Eleanor Hughes (1:05.61) and Avery Stein (1:06.54) competed exhibition. On the men’s side, the trio of Arizona State transfer Brady Johnson (53.73), Logan Ottke (53.80) and Darden Tate (55.11) took the 1-2-3 punch over McKendree. With the exception of Johnson, who swam this race for the first time this season — and won! — every Tiger swam a season best.
Maeve DeYoung (1:59.40) out-touched teammate Kylee Sullivan (1:59.76) to win the 200 fly, while freshman Annabelle Wentzel (2:02.09), swimming the event for the first time this season, took third. On the men’s side, the superfly (see what I did there?) Jan Zubik contested the event for the first time this season and took the top spot with a 1:41.99, followed by fellow Tiger Matthew Judkins (1:44.54) in third and freshman Drew Ploof (1:48.79 )in fourth, swimming exhibition. Judkins and Ploof both recorded season bests by a least a second.
After the break was the splash n’ dash, the 50 free, where it was again a top four sweep and more season bests! Francesca Smith won in 22.72, followed by Katie Kuehn in second (23.15) and Grace Hanson (23.42) in third. Arizona State transfer Haiden Schoessel (23.46) and Paige Striley (23.81) also competed exhibition.
On the men’s side, sophomore Luke Nebrich rocketed to a 19.03, which was over a second faster than his teammates Ethan Vance (20.10) and just 1/100 off his lifetime best. Indiana University transfer Ian Everett (20.11) and Jaden Popishil (20.27), finished second through fourth, respectively (Jaden was exhibition).
One of my other favorite events, the 100 free, followed, with Zara Zallen throwing down a 49.22 for the top spot (2+ seconds faster than at Purdue a few weeks ago) and Haiden Schoessel taking second in 50.61 (SB by 2+ seconds). Freshman Zuza Kranicki swam a 51.68 to grab third, just beating teammate Katie Kuehn’s 51.89, which was fourth (and exhibition). On the men’s side, Luke Nebrich’s 42.59 was just 0.06 off his lifetime best set last year, and torched his teammates, Ethan Vance (2nd, 44.30), Ian Everett (4th, 44.60) and Drew Ploof (exh, 46.76).
Freshman Libby Bakker was back to her winning ways in the 200 back, coming in with a 1:58.12, a little under a second faster than Vandy’s Aubrey Hall (1:59.02). Piper McNeil (1:59.64) and Maeve DeYoung (1:59.74) finished third and fourth, respectively. Side Note: You couldn’t pay me to swim a 2 Fly/2 Back double, so props to Maeve on that.
Junior Quinlan Gould smoked the competition on the men’s side, finishing with a 1:44.18 for another first place finish, taking more than 5 seconds off his Purdue time. He was followed by fellow transfer newbie Brady Johnson (1:47.33), Griffin Craig (1:49.80) and Matthew Judkins (exh, 1:49.96), who finished second through fourth, respectively.
Breaststroke wunderkind Lina Blank led from start to finish in the 200 breast, touching in 2:14.10 over Vandy’s Melissa Cowan (2:15.20) for the top spot. Peyton Drexler was the next closest Tiger, touching in 2:18.66 for third in her first time racing the event this season. Eleanor Hughes, swimming exhibition, finished with a 2:23.52. Bank and Hughes, in particular, had 4-6 second drops from the team’s opener in West Lafayette.
On the men’s side, Matthew Mortenson was the top Tiger finisher, clocking in with a 1:57.87 for the win, and it might have been his lifetime best? Mizzou doesn’t openly share times, so I am left to keep up with it myself, and per my records his previous best was 1:58.68. Mortenson was followed by Logan Ottke (1:59.55) and Quebec native and new Tiger Sebastian Gonzalez-Barbosa (2:06.61), who finished second and third.
In the 500 free, Zoe Schneider took the W in 4:49.62, a 10 second drop from the Purdue meet, while Katie Gresik’s 5:00.16 was good enough for second. On the men’s side, Conner Boatright touched in second with a season-best 4:30.75 as the Tigers’ lone competitor.
Approximately six million Tigers competed in the 100 fly and I can’t blame them— it’s my other all-time favorite event. The women’s event featured a whole lotta Tigers bunched up, including Paige Striley (53.21), Kylee Sullivan (53.31), Annabelle Wentzel (53.98), Grace Hanson (exh, 54.55), Francesca Smith (exh, 55.56), Sydney Bales (exh, 56.32) and Haiden Schoessel (exh, 57.39). While it was Smith’s first time contesting the event this season, everyone else posted a season best. On the men’s side, Darden Tate (47.94) finished second, a little over a second behind McKendree’s Vova Gavrysh (46.93). Jaden Pospishil placed third with a 48.05 and Drew Ploof (49.36) was fifth.
The 400 IM – the hardest event ever in my mind – was contested for the first time this season. It appears they alternate between the 2IM and 4IM each meet? The Tigers swept first through third, with Zoe Schneider (4:15.70) finishing first, Piper McNeil (4:19.40) second, and Peyton Drexler (4:22.63) third. On the men’s side, Matthew Mortenson (3:50.28) convincingly took the win over teammate Jan Zubik (3:55.48), who swam the event for the first time in at least the last two years (I didn’t cover the team his freshman or sophomore seasons). Sebastian Gonzalez-Barboza (4:02.48) and Conner Boatright (4:06.13) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the final event of the meet, the 400 Free Relay, Mizzou’s A team of Lina Bank (49.87), Zara Zallen (49.54), Francesca Smith (49.07) and Katie Kuehn (51.66) beat out the B team 0f Sullivan, Stein, Bakker and Hanson. Keep an eye on Bakker’s split, 49.97, as she may find her way into the A relay soon. On the men’s side, Mizzou’s A team of Francois Malherbe, Luke Nebrich, Ethan Vance and Brady Johnson fended off the B team Tate, Pospishil, Everett and Gould.
The Diving Well
On the 1m diving side, it was all Missouri (literally), as no other team had any entries. Mia Henninger took top honors with a 289.58, followed by Megan Jolly (280.13), Gabby Carmona (248.25), Olivia Liddle (exh, 236.18) and Jazzelle Eikerman (exh, 218.10). On the men’s side, Collier Dyer (369.83), Texas transfer Tanner Braunton (347.93) and Tommaso Zannella (292.88) swept the event.
On the 3m diving side, it was Gaby Carmona (316.50) who took top billing, followed by Megan Jolly (306.15), Jazzelle Eikerman (277.28), Mia Henninger (263.93) and Olivia Liddle (240.68). Collier Dyer was again victorious in the 3m with a score of 362.63. Tanner Braunton was second with a 348.38, followed by Tommaso Zannella (259.28) in third.
Odds n’ Ends
- Multiple Tigers were individual double event winners on Saturday, including Libby Bakker (100 & 200 back), Lina Bank (100 & 200 breast), Collier Dyer (1m & 3m diving), Quinlan Gould (100 & 200 back), Matthew Mortenson (200 breast, 400 IM), Luke Nebrich (50 & 100 free), Zoe Schneider (500 free, 400 IM), and Zara Zallen (100 & 200 free)
- By my best count, 57 season best times were recorded on Saturday, while 25 Tigers suited up in an event for either the first time ever in their Tiger career or for their first time this season.
- Next up for the Tigers is the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational on November 13-15, before coming back home to host the Mizzou Invite, the team’s first prelim/final meet of the season, November 20-22.
