At the University of Missouri Instrasquad meet, four members of the Mizzou roster put up Olympic Trial cuts to secure their spot at next year’s July meet and throw down some extremely fast mid-season times.
Breaststroker Sam Tierney who just completed his fourth year with the Tigers was among those who made the cuts. Tierney was well under the standard in the 100m breaststroke, sporting a 1:01.54 to swim over two-seconds faster than the qualifying time. That time also stood as a personal best for Tierney.
In the 200, Tierney was under it by less than a second, going a 2:17.62. Tierney had already qualified for the Olympic Trials. In early April right after the NCAA Championships, Tierney competed in Toronto at the Canadian Team Trials. There he swam best times in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. His 100 was a 1:01.70, his 200 a 2:12.70.
Sophomore Michael Chadwick also earned himself a trials cut with some very swift times in the sprint freestyles. Chadwick rocked a 23.11 in the 50 along with a 50.48 in the 100. Both of those swims were personal best times as well and the first time he managed to dip under the trials qualifying standards.
Another sophomore made his mark as Carter Griffin qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100 and 200m backstroke. In the 100 Griffin swam time of 56.08. In the 200 he was a 2:02.56. Griffin was off his personal best times in both events, times which he swam at the 2014 US Nationals in order to make the trials cut.
Hannah Stevens was the only other swimmer to swim faster than a trials cut. With her 1:02.03 in the 100m backstroke, she was less than one tenth of a second shy of her 1:01.96 personal best from 2014 Summer Nationals.
For full meet results click here.
Chadwick, Soedel, Murray, and Messerschmidt were the 4 Americans that made the A-Final at the NCAA Championships. Chadwick and these guys should do very well at the OT’s.
The number of guys that have a shot to be in the mix for those last couple 400 free relays spots is going to make the 100 free really exciting next year