The No. 17/20 Missouri swimming and diving teams both recorded victories at the Mizzou Aquatic Center on Saturday, as the women took down Arkansas, 185.5-114.5, and the Tiger men defeated Missouri State, 193-92.
Four different Tigers won multiple events in the meet, with junior Danny Kovac (Fort Collins, Colo.) and sophomore Ben Patton (Wichita, Kan.) leading the way with three wins each. Also with multiple first-place finishes were senior Sarah Thompson (Collierville, Tenn.) and sophomore Carlo Lopez (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada).
For the second meet in a row, Patton won all thee of his individual races for a team-best six event titles in 2020-21. The sophomore earned top honors in the 100 breast (53.41), 200 back (1:48.05) and 100 fly (47.56), with his 100 breast time easily besting his old personal-best time of 55.37.
Kovac won all of his individual events on Saturday, with wins in the 200 fly (1:43.20), 100 free (44.80) and 200 IM (1:46.62). His 200 fly time was a personal-best and good enough to move him into fourth all-time at Mizzou in the event. The junior has now won all five individual races he’s entered two meets into the season.
In the diving well, Lopez also made it a perfect four-for-four in wins in 2020-21, as he swept the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions for the second meet in a row. He went 363.7 to take top honors on 3-meter and 325.1 for the 3-meter victory.
Thompson clocked wins in the 100 free and 100 fly, with times of 48.80 and 52.65, respectively. Her 100 fly time of 52.65 was a new personal-best, bettering her old time of 52.91 from the 2019 Mizzou Invite. She also moved from ninth to seventh on Mizzou’s all-time list in the event.
Arkansas Release
The Razorbacks had seven winners on the day. Peyton Palsha won the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:54.23. Adela Vavrinova secured a win in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.39. Vanessa Herrmann earned a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.78. Brooke Schultz locked up the 1-meter dive with a final score of 336.30.
Vanessa Herrmann won her second event of the day in the 200-yard breaststroke with a score of 2:12.58. Brooke Schultz also won two events, with a win in the 3-meter dive and a final score of 345.60. Adela Vavrinova pulled in the Razorbacks’ final win for the day with a 201.09 time in the 200-yard individual medley.
“I am proud of our team,” said Arkansas head swim and dive coach Neil Harper. “This is our first meet of the year and we didn’t back down to a Top-20 SEC opponent on the road.”
“Of the 14 individual events we won seven of them and that’s a credit to our leaders stepping up,” said Harper. “I was particularly impressed with Brooke, Vanessa, Peyton and Adéla who between them earned all the Razorback wins today. I also thought Kobie swam great in the 100-back,100-free and relays.”
“Brooke and Maha scored NCAA Zone qualifying scores in both the 3-meter and 1-meter springboard events and Vanessa’s wins were also NCAA B qualifying times.”
“I think our freshmen made a great account of themselves in their collegiate debuts as Razorbacks,” Harper said. “Abby Pfeifer, Serena Gould, Hannah Cech and Bella Cothern all had great showings today. We learned a lot about our performances under pressure and can make some adjustments and improvements for our future meets.”
Missouri State Release
The Missouri State men’s swimming and diving team fell to #17 Missouri 193-92 in the first meet of the 2020-21 season Saturday.
“I’m so thankful we had the opportunity to get back to competition today,” Missouri State head coach Dave Collins said. “It’s been a long eight months without racing so today was a great day. Watching the freshmen in their first college races was a highlight. We have felt very good about this group since they signed and today we saw some things out of them to really get excited about.”
The meet was highlighted by a first-place finish for freshman Robert Hill in the 100-yard backstroke. Hill recorded a time of 48.80 (25.30) to secure the first-place spot.
“It’s great to get out there at the college level and see the work that the team has been putting in pay off,” Hill said.
Other individual highlights included a third-place finish for Michael Hampel in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.92 and a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle by Jonathan Hill with a time of 46.80.
In the 1000-yard freestyle, Pawel Krawczyk, Dylan Moffatt and Nicholas Andres took the second-fourth spots. Krawczyk recorded a total time of 9:21.96, Moffatt totaled a time of 9:27.55 and Andres recorded a time of 9:31.06. Krawczyk, Moffatt and Andres also took the second-fourth place spots in the 500-yard freestyle.
Jacob Bening, Austin Huskey and Evan Porter also took the second-fourth place spots in the 200-yard backstroke. Bening recorded a time of 1:50.24, Huskey finished shortly after with a time of 1:50.99 and Porter finished with a 1:57.12.
The 200-yard breaststroke consisted of second-fourth place finishes for Hampel, James Doromal and Nich Schuster. Hampel swam a 2:02.83, Doromal recorded a 2:05.60 and Schuster finished at 2:09.50.
Hill, James Vaughn and Tyler Lewis finished second through fourth place in the 100-yard butterfly. Hill finished at 49.97, Vaughn finished right behind Hill with a 49.99 and Lewis swam a 50.53.
— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Missouri Swimming & Diving. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.
