Tierney Drops 51.68 in 100y Breast at Mizzou Invite

Columbia, Missouri, November 21, 2014 – The Mizzou Invite continued today with the host team collecting all but two of the first place finishes during the finals session.  The top 5 team scores through tonight’s finals session shake out like this:

Women’s

Mizzou- 813.0
Florida Int.- 414.0
Nebraska- 350.0
IL-Champaign- 315.0
Drury- 297.0

Men’s:

Mizzou- 876.0
West Virginia- 478.0
Drury- 477.0
UNLV- 285.0
Missouri Univ of Science & Tech- 179.0

Women’s Events

The 200y medley relay saw the squad of Hannah Stevens (25.20), Abby Duncan (27.35), Dani Barbiea (22.88), and Anna Patterson (22.47) team up to pull out the win in 1:37.90 for Mizzou.  The school’s “B” relay earned second place in 1:40.89, while Drury University clocked a 1:41.04 to finish third.

Freshman Sharli Brady of Mizzou then went on to win the 400y IM, eclipsing her 4:14.08 “B” cut from prelims, finishing tonight in 4:11.53. Johanna Gustafsdotti, a senior out of Florida International University finished second in 4:14.86, which also cleared the “B” standard. Senior Dani Spradlink of Mizzou placed third in 4:21.66.

The women’s 200y freestyle race lacked any “B” or “A” cuts, although Rachel Hayden (Mizzou) touched first in 1:48.72, which does surpass her previous best time thus far this year of 1:50.53 set in October.  Hayden was followed closely by teammate Erin Metzger-Seymour in a time of 1:48.76, while Gabbie Stecker from Illinois – Champaign rounded out the top three in 1:49.28.

Katharine Ross (Mizzou) swam a swift 59.43 in the women’s 100y breaststroke tonight, falling just short of the “A” standard of 59.12. Her previous fastest time of the Fall was the 1:01.15 she clocked at the Quad Meet in Lexington, KY two weeks ago.  Mizzou took the next two spots in the 100y breast tonight, as Abby Duncan (Mizzou) touched in second place (1:00.26) and Lauren Stoeckle claimed third in 1:01.38.

Hannah Stevens kept the Mizzou women’s winning streak alive by narrowly defeating Drury’s Katya Rudenko in the 100y backstroke. Stevens clocked a 52.58 to Rudenko’s 52.65, with Florida International swimmer, Silvia Scalia, earning third in 53.38.  All three times cleared the NCAA “B” mark.

Mizzou women finished the night with a commanding win in the 800y free relay.  The foursome of Dani Barbiea (1:47.73), Hannah Stevens (1:47.60), Sharli Brady (1:48.83), and Rachel Hayden (1:48.83) combined for a first place time of 7:12.99, well ahead of second place finishers, Florida International who touched in 7:20.85.  Illinois – Champaign closed out the top three in their time of 7:22.49.

Men’s Events

The Mizzou men were also dominant during tonight’s finals session where they, too, kicked things off with a 200y medley relay win.  The efforts of Alex Glogoza (22.59), Sam Tierney (23.62), Andrew Sansoucie (21.01), and Matthew Margritier (19.10) combined to pull off a narrow victory ahead of a charging UNLV team; Mizzou touched first with a time of 1:25.32, UNLV in second with a time of 1:26.56.  Drury finished in third place with a time of 1:28.06.

Next up for the men was the 400m IM, with Mizzou’s Mack Darragh (senior) earning the win in 3:45.58, just out-touching teammate Daniel Graviss’ time of 3:45.59.  This could be a sign of good things to come from Darragh, as his time from two weeks ago was over the 4-minute mark at 4:04.07.  West Virginia’s Nate Carr finished in third with a time of 3:54.16.  All three times cleared the “B” standard.

The men’s 200y freestyle also saw a 1-2 Mizzou finish, with sophomore Michael Chadwick touching in 1:34.47, a monster time for this point in the season.  This time would have placed eighth at last year’s NCAAs, yet here we are, only in NOvember.  Chadwick’s teammate, Andrew Phillips, finished  in 1:36.38 and Drury’s Daniel Rzadkowski earned third place in a time of 1:36.44.  Again, all three times cleared the “B” standard.

Senior Sam Tierney (Mizzou) lit up the pool during prelims by earning an NCAA “A” cut with his 52.02 time in the 100y breaststroke; however, he blasted an even faster time during the finals session, turning out a 51.68 to finish almost a full two seconds over the field.  Barring any out-of-this-world swims on incoming results at other invitationals, this is most likely the fastest time in the NCAA after this weekend.  In fact, Tierney’s 51.68 would have placed THIRD at last year’s NCAAs….THIRD…..and, it’s only November. In tonight’s final, Mizzou swimmers ended up in the second and third spots (Mark Conroy  in second 53.65 and Igor Kozlovskij in third 53.97).

Within the men’s 100y backstroke event, Henrique Machado of UNLV won big with his time of 46.39; that time puts him in at the number one in the NCAA (for now….).  Machado was followed by West Virginia’s Andrew Marsh 47.05, also a studly time, and Sean Feher with a solid 47.37.

With no Mizzou men in the final event, the 800y free relay, West Virginia assembled the foursome of Nate Carr (1:40.37), Nathan Cobbe (1:39.32), Christopher Brill (1:42.80), and Andrew Marsh (1:37.38) to claim the victory in a total time of 6:39.79.  Missouri University Science Technology earned third in 6:55.03, followed by West Virginia B team in 6:55.03.

Competition continues tomorrow with prelims beginning at 10:00am Central

Full Meet Results Here