Women's swim team beats rival KU
The win ties the Border Showdown at four points each.
Published Oct. 31, 2006
The women's swimming team beat rival Kansas 187-111 on Friday night. But, coach Brian Hoffer said, his team's rivalry with Kansas is just beginning.
"It can't be a good rivalry if you win every year," he said, referring to the long streaks each team has experienced in the past.
Kansas won the first 17 meetings, dating from 1977 to 1998, though there aren't dual meets every year.
This was followed by a five-year winning streak for MU, which Kansas broke with a win last season.
Hoffer said that last season's loss inspired his team.
"I think it proved to the women last year that you have to compete at a really high level," he said.
Sophomore Carly Sullivan said it is a long-standing rivalry, and the meet was "insane."
"It doesn't matter if we feel bad, sore or anything - you just get fired up," she said.
Freshman Colleen Gordon also said that it is an intense rivalry, but that there is a strong sense of sportsmanship as well.
Hoffer said there was more strategy involved in this meet compared to others.
Since Kansas does not field a men's swimming team, it was a women's-only meet.
This means less time between events because each event is only run once instead of twice.
But Hoffer said he knew how his team would swim.
"We know what they can do physically," he said.
MU led in the total team score the entire meet. In the first event, the 200-yard medley relay, a team from Kansas finished first but was disqualified, leaving a team from MU the victors. MU won the next six events before the first break for diving.
After the break, Kansas won the next two events, with Maria Mayrovich winning the 100-yard freestyle and Terri Schramka winning the 200-yard backstroke. MU sophomore Erin Yeager broke the streak, winning the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.14.
"That was pretty nice to be able to see that," Hoffer said. "That was a good swim."
After this race, MU won four of the final five events.
Gordon led the way for the Tigers, winning the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley. She said her 200-yard freestyle was a good race for her; she swam a season best time of 1:47. She was also the third swimmer on the winning 200-yard medley relay team.
"Any team in the country would have a hard time racing against her," Hoffer said.
Sullivan also had a productive meet, winning both the 200- and 100-yard butterfly. Perhaps most impressive is that she won the 200-yard butterfly shortly after finishing second in the 1000-yard freestyle, by far the longest event of the night. Both Sullivan and Hoffer said the strategy for conserving her energy for the first 800 yards gave her energy for the next event, allowing her to win.
"I was feeling good in my 200 fly, so I just went for it," Sullivan said. The race was her first collegiate 200-yard butterfly race.
Hoffer said that she had been preparing to begin swimming the butterfly competitively since this summer. Her time was 2:05.87, but she says her goal is 2:01.