The Missouri swimming and diving teams won nine events and recorded two nation-leading relay times during the first day of a two-day quad dual against No. 3/7 North Carolina State, No. 17/14 Kentucky and Arkansas Thursday afternoon at the Lancaster Aquatic Center in Lexington, Ky.
Team Scores:
Men:
- Missouri 118, NC State 49
- NC State 89, Kentucky 78
- Missouri 122, Kentucky 45
Women:
- Missouri 85.5, NC State 81.5
- NC State 99, Kentucky 68
- Missouri 105, Kentucky 62
- NC State 132, Arkansas 33
- Missouri 135, Arkansas 30
- Kentucky 129, Arkansas 36
Missouri Swimming and Diving Press Release
Five individual Tigers earned event wins and Mizzou swept both relays during Thursday action.
Missouri swimming and diving opened the meet with wins in the 200 free relay, as the women’s relay of junior Sarah Thompson (Collierville, Tenn.), senior Haley Hynes (Lee’s Summit), sophomore Megan Keil (Derby, Kan.) and freshman Alex Moderski (McFarland, Wis.) won in 1:29.08, which ranks first in the nation. The men’s foursome of senior Caleb Hicks (Colorado Springs, Colo.), sophomore Danny Kovac (Fort Collins, Colo.), junior Grant Reed (Austin, Texas) and sophomore Kyle Leach (Colorado Springs, Colo.) also placed first in 1:19.51.
Kovac earned Mizzou’s first individual win of the day, as he touched first in the 200 IM with a season-best 1:45.28, which bettered his previous best and kept him ranked third in the nation.
The 100 breast also featured a Tiger sweep, with victories from freshman Molly Winer (Ames, Iowa) and senior Nick Staver (Bettendorf, Iowa). Winer claimed her third win in the event of the year with a 1:01.65, and Staver won his third-consecutive title in the 100 breast with a swim of 54.58.
Seniors Nick Alexander (St. Louis, Mo.) and Micah Slaton (Austin, Texas) also took home individual wins in day one competition. Alexander recorded his team-best sixth win of the year in the 200 back in 1:43.28, which was only three-hundredths of a second off his nation-leading time in the event. Slaton was victorious in the 200 fly after touching the wall in 1:45.15.
Missouri swimming and diving concluded Thursday action with wins in the women’s and men’s 400 medley relays. On the women’s side, Thompson, Winer and freshmen Meredith Rees (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Amy Feddersen (Ames, Iowa) clocked a time of 3:36.93. In the men’s race, senior Daniel Hein (Sycamore, Ill.), Staver, Kovac and senior Giovanny Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil) posted the nation’s top time to easily take the win in 3:10.96.
NC State Press Release
NC State swimming and diving picked up four event wins between its men’s and women’s squads as it completed the first day of competition at the quad meet hosted by Kentucky.
After the opening day of action, the seventh-ranked Wolfpack women own a 99-68 edge over the No. 14 Wildcats and a 132-33 lead over Arkansas. The Pack narrowly trails ninth-ranked Missouri 85.5-81.5 with one day of competition remaining.
NC State’s men lead No. 17 Kentucky 89-78, with Missouri holding a 118-49 advantage over the Wolfpack.
Fourteen of NC State’s swims and dives were good for podium finishes on the night.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS:
Emma Muzzy highlighted the outing with a 1:54.00 200-yard backstroke win. The victory was her second on the season in the event as she dropped a time that currently ranks fourth in the nation.
The Wolfpack women once again came out swinging in the individual medley. NC State completed a 1-2 punch in the 200-yard individual medley as Julia Poole (1:58.55) and Kylee Alons (1:58.58) both posted times that rank in the top 10 nationally.
NC State’s men dominated the 500-yard freestyle. All four of the Pack’s swimmers placed in the top five. Ross Dant led the way in 4:23.25, and Curtis Wiltsey touched soon after him in 4:23.69 for second place. Eric Knowles (4:24.04) and Danny Erlenmeyer (4:28.78) took third and fourth, respectively, to round out yet another strong performance by the Wolfpack’s distance crew.
Kate Moore added another event win to her junior year resume. The captain continued to show off her versatility, taking first in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:47.91.
Wolfpack sophomore Taylor Bennett picked up a second-place finish, as the female divers were in action on the one-meter board Thursday evening. Bennett’s score of 265.30 exceeded the NCAA Zones standard and qualified her for postseason competition.
NC State took second in both of the women’s relays contested on the night. Alons, Sirena Rowe, Heather Maccausland and Vasiliki Baka took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:29.81. Muzzy, Maccausland, Alons and Poole then capped off the evening with second place in the 400-yard medley relay (3:37.91).
The Pack men added third place on their side of the medley relay as Noah Hensley, Kimani Gregory, Luke Sobolewski and Hunter Tapp finished in 3:15.00.
Jacob Johnson (200-yard backstroke), Hensley (100-yard freestyle) and Noah Henderson (200-yard butterfly) all secured top-three finishes on the men’s side, while Alons (100-yard freestyle) added another podium finish to accompany her 200-yard individual medley result.
Kentucky Press Release
Sophomore Kyndal Knight continued her winning ways on Thursday afternoon, defeating the 14-person 1-meter field with a score of 284.30 points. She has now won six of her seven springboard events this season and three of her four 1-meter performances. Knight is expected to compete in the 3-meter event on Friday morning, which she is undefeated in this season.
For the No. 17 Kentucky men, sophomore Danny Zhang dominated the eight-person 3-meter field, earning first place with 405.65 points and 67.3 points more than the second-place showing. It marked Zhang’s first six-dive set of the season.
Opening the meet with the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Kentucky men recorded the fourth-fastest time in the nation in 1:19.91. Earning second place behind Missouri’s 1:19.51, senior Peter Wetzlar led off the foursome with a 20.09 lead split, the fastest lead split in the field. Junior Lukas Kraft followed in 20.40, then senior John Mitchell in 19.84 and anchored by senior Jason Head in 19.58.
Wetzlar continues to impress the coaching staff, and there was no exception to that on Thursday. The senior from Zimbabwe swept the 100-yard freestyle field on a season-best 43.83. It ranks as the seventh-best time in the nation, replacing his former time of 43.86.
“Peter was awesome,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “Some of his swims today were really good against two elite programs. He continues to improve and get better, and what a great season he has had.
“I thought the guys competed well. They have a close meet with NC State, and we’ll try to give it a run tomorrow. Danny on the diving board was really good. On the women’s side, I thought Izzy Gati’s 200 butterfly was awesome. She found her way to a win, which was really cool. Kyndal Knight continues to be a leader for our team, and we are looking for some big things out of her tomorrow.”
Sophomore Gati took gold in the 200-yard butterfly on a season-best 1:58.89, shedding over four tenths of a second off her previously recorded time in October.
In the 200-yard individual medley, senior Asia Seidt finished in third place in 1:59.97, her season best. Senior Glen Brown also finished in third place in the event on a 1:47.87 season-best time, shedding nearly two full seconds off his last time out.