Swimming sinks its first opponents

Both the men and women's teams won several races.

By Evan Glantz

Published Oct. 20, 2008

The Missouri men and women's swim teams began their season with a splash on Saturday as both took first place in the Show-Me Showdown. The men's squad totaled 393 points and the women scored 381.

A win was expected from both teams, as the Missouri swimming program is on the rise. The women were ranked No. 18 in the country, tying their highest ranking ever. The men were also ranked in the top 25, coming in at No. 21.

"This meet allowed us to get started racing," coach Brian Hoffer said. "I hadn't seen any of my freshmen race before, so it was really a chance for us to get going, get the process of the meet down. A lot of these athletes have never been in a college dual meet, which this wasn't, but it was a nice situation to get that started."

On the women's side, the invitational included five teams with Missouri. Drury University placed second, followed by Lindenwood University, Washington University and Stephens College.

"We just had a lot of energy coming into this meet," senior Lori Halvorson said. "And we got up and really got behind each and every swimmer, no matter what race it was, or who they were racing."

Of the 16 total women's events, Missouri placed first 14 times. Halvorson won the 100-yard and the 200-yard individual medleys. She also anchored the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays and the 400-yard medley relay to first place finishes. However, even she saw room for improvement.

"We need to start working on our technique a little bit," Halvorson said. "There are some small things we are pretty rough on."

The men's team placed first, with Drury finishing second by a large amount. They were followed by Missouri University of Science and Technology, Washington University and Lindenwood University.

"Before the meet started, I told the guys this meet was going to set the tone for the rest of the year," senior Jake Hoffmann said. "So if you come out strong today, hopefully we can carry that into next week and continue on for the rest of the year."

The Tigers set the tone at the invitational, as they easily routed the other four teams and beat Drury by more than 100 points. The men had 12 first place finishes out of 16 races. Hoffmann won the 100-yard backstroke, helped the 200-yard freestyle relay win their event and swam the butterfly section of a first place 400-yard medley relay team.

"We wanted to win and have good technique," Hoffman said. "We wanted to cheer for each other, support each other as a team, and I think we did all those things."