Missouri State V. Mizzou
- November 2, 2019
- Hammonds Student Center Pool
- Springfield, MO
- Meet Results
The top-10 ranked Mizzou Tigers faced in-state rival the Missouri State Bears on Saturday. Along with sweeping all 26 events, the Tigers set nine new Hammonds Student Center pool records, five men’s and four women’s records.
Women’s Meet
- Final Score: Mizzou 160- Missouri State 73
The Mizzou 400 medley relay of Sarah Thompson, Kayla Jones, Danielle Hepler, and Megan Keil earned the first win for the Tigers with their final time of 3:43.85.
Into the 200 free, Mizzou’s Allison Bloebaum set the first women’s pool record with her sub-1:50 swim of 1:49.90. Missouri State’s Liberty Howell settled for second place, clocking in at 1:50.45. Howell picked up another second-place finish in the 500 free (5:00.18), finishing behind Mizzou’s Azra Avdic (4:58.43).
Then, Tiger freshman Meredith Rees set another pool record in the 50 free at 23.43. She followed up with another record-breaking win in the 100 free, taking the event with a new pool record of 50.68.
Topping things off in the 200 free relay, Megan Keil first broke Meredith Rees‘ hours-old 50 free pool record with a 23.21 leading off the D-relay. Just a minute later, the quartet of Amy Fedderson, Alex Moderski, Molly Winer, and Rees set the fourth women’s pool record with a time of 1:33.63.
Men’s Meet
- Final Score: Mizzou 166.5- Missouri State 70.5
Both of Mizzou’s relays on Saturday set new pool records, along with three individual men’s records. The Tiger 400 medley relay of Jack Dahlgren, Nick Staver, Danny Kovac, and Giovanny Lima won the event with a pool record time of 3:13.97.
Mizzou’s Joseph Gutierrez and Missouri State’s Antonio Thomas had a thrilling 9-minute battle in the 1000 free. At the finish, it was Gutierrez (9:18.06) who pulled away from Thomas (9:19.81) to snag the first men’s individual win.
Then, Mizzou’s Caleb Hicks picked up a win in the 50 free at 20.60. After the first diving break, Hicks picked up another event win in the 100 fly (49.14).
Medley relay member Danny Kovac earned his second pool record when he won the 200 IM at 1:46.06, which now ranks 3rd in the NCAA.
Switching to the diving well, Mizzou’s Carlo Lopez set the 3-meter pool record with 400.28 points, the 5th-best score in Mizzou history. Another Tiger medley relay member, Nick Staver, set another pool record with his 100 breast victory (54.62).
The meet finished with Tigers Daniel Hein, Kyle Leach, Grant Reed, and Alex Moore teaming up to set the 200 free relay pool record at 1:21.72.
Next weekend, the Tigers will face Kentucky, NC State, and Arkansas on November 7th and 8th. The next day, the Missouri State Bears will host Southern Illinois.
Mizzou – Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The No. 4/9 Mizzou men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams set eight Hammonds Student Center pool records in a sweep over Missouri State on Saturday afternoon in Springfield, Mo. The Tiger men posted a 166.5-70.5 win over the Bears, while the women were victorious 160-73.
Overall, the Tigers combined to sweep all 26 events on the day.
TOP TIGERS
Three Tigers, senior Caleb Hicks (Colorado Springs, Colo.), sophomore Sarah Rousseau (Melbourne, Fla.) and freshman Meredith Rees (Colorado Springs, Colo.) all won two events each against the Bears, while six others, Rees, senior Nick Staver (Bettendorf, Iowa), sophomores Allison Bloebaum (Mason, Ohio), Megan Keil (Derby, Kan.), Danny Kovac (Fort Collins, Colo.) and freshman Carlo Lopez (Edmonton, Alberta) all set pool records.
In the diving well, Lopez erupted for 400.28 points on 3-meter to post the fifth-best score in Mizzou history and break the Hammonds Student Center mark. On the women’s side, Rousseau took home both the 1-meter (275.18) and 3-meter (317.03) titles.
Rees claimed top honors in both the 50 free (23.43) and 100 free (50.68), both of which were pool records. Keil later broke Rees’ 50 free mark with a 23.21 as the leadoff leg in the 200 free relay.
In the 200 IM, Kovac touched in 1:46.06, which ranks as the fastest time in the nation this season, an NCAA ‘B’ cut and a Hammonds Student Center record.
Hicks earned first-place finishes in both the 50 free (20.60) and 100 fly (49.14), while also setting pool records were Staver in the 100 breast (54.62) and Bloebaum in the 100 free (1:49.90).
Mizzou’s men’s and women’s 200 free relays and men’s 400 medley relay set new pool marks as well.
QUOTABLES
Mizzou Head Coach Andrew Grevers
“I was excited to take to the team down to Missouri State today to see how they’d handle an away meet and how they’d implement their Zou Style under tougher circumstances. I’m pleased with the results. We still have opportunity for growth and improvement between now and the Mizzou Invite but we’re happy to walk away from this meet with eight lifetime bests and nine pool records. All in all, it was a solid meet but we’re looking forward to the next one down in Lexington.”
UP NEXT
Mizzou will travel to Lexington, Ky., next week for a two-day meet against host Kentucky, North Carolina State and Arkansas (women only). Action gets underway with day one action on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. CT and will conclude on Friday, Nov. 8 at 9 a.m. CT.
Missouri State – Press Release
SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State swimming and diving team impressed in the freestyle events but ultimately fell to nationally-ranked Missouri Saturday at Hammons Student Center Pool.
Missouri swept all relay and individual events, pulling away with team victories on the men’s and women’s sides. The Bears finished almost even in point totals, with the men falling 166.5-70.5 and the women 160-73.
“I am very proud on how they raced tough,” said head coach Dave Collins. “We had great energy and support and produced some tight races against a top opponent.”
The freestyle portion of the meet highlighted MSU’s efforts, as Libby Howell, Antonio Thomas, and Samantha Hietpas picked up runner-up finishes against the top-ranked Tigers.
Hietpas and Thomas began the meet’s long-distance events with impressive swims, each earning second-place in the 1000 freestyle. The latter provided a thrilling finish in front of an electric home crowd, gaining on his opponent late and barely missing the title mark for a time of 9:19.81.
“I was very happy with my performance today,” said Thomas. “The entire distance crew has put in an immense amount of training and dedication, so it was nice for me and my other teammates to see positive results.”
Howell increased the pressure on Missouri in the 200 freestyle, with less than a second separating her 1:50.45 mark from the Tiger frontrunner. In the meet’s final events, Howell produced another solid performance, this time in the 500 freestyle, clocking in at 5:00.18 for second.
“The energy and enthusiasm at our home pool is unmatched,” said Howell. “I felt the entire team swam close and was confident which is exciting for next weekend’s home meet.”
MSU raced close with the Tigers in the remaining freestyle events, pulling in third-place points from returners Anna Miller and Pawel Krawczyk. Miller impressed in the short-distance portion, securing the Bears’ frontrunner position in the 50 and 100 freestyle while Krawczyk headlined the 200 and 500 free.
Diving pulled in points for the Bears as Dayana Popa led the efforts with a fifth-place finish and 252.83 points on the high dive.
The Bears return to Hammons Student Center Pool to host conference opponent Southern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m.
Very unimpressed by these suited times. Either go all in or don’t wear them. Low quality racing does not equal fast swimming.
I’m sure the Mizzou coaches are worried whether you’re impressed or not. Why criticize a new staff for thinking outside the box and trying to get there swimmers to go faster. Maybe it works, maybe it doesnt but until season ends try not to be such a $h1+ stain.
They honestly seem like pretty normal results for a suited duel meet. They definitely aren’t resting for these meets so the suit is only going to help so much when you’re broken down
No, many instances where their suited times are barely faster, or in some cases slower than guys around the country in speedos. When the field is even these guys are going to get smoked. IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT. Get mad 😘
Is it really a rivalry if mizzou crushes them by this much?
Ask Alabama or Auburn the same question. They don’t care how much they win/lose by, rivalries are rivalries.
Amazing what suits will do. Hard to compare these times to previous years
Not sure if they were wearing suits here. The times look like normal in season times to me.
Yes Mizzou’s entire team was suited.
Mizzou said early this year they would suit up for every meet this year. I would bet that Mizzou was suited.
How long have you been out of the sport?
This used to be a good instate rivalry. MU has stepped up its game the last few years. Time for State to step it up and not be content only winning the Missouri Valley Conference.
I have to say that no coaches on earth could have done a better job keeping the rivalry alive than the current staff at Missouri State. It is hard to believe the success they have had considering their “rival” built a facility with a warm up pool better than their entire facility. Back when Mizzou had a weak pool the bears handled them quite well. The job the bears have done not only recruiting, but also at getting kids to improve, has been incredible.
Let’s trade pools for 4 years and see what happens.
Just an observation- they have had some success recruiting internationally on the Men’s side and success at NCAA—but very little on the Women’s side. Just saying time to look beyond the MVC.