Oct. 1, 2005

Results

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The first intercollegiate event in the history of the Mizzou Aquatic Center was held Saturday when the Missouri swimming and diving program held its annual Black and Gold meet. The Black squad won the overall competition, 239-181. The Black team also took the men's competition, 134-76, and the Gold prevailed in the women's matchup with a come-from-behind 114-105 victory.

Freshman Jill Granger got the Gold off to a good start with a win in the 500 free, while fellow freshman Jake Hoffmann took the men's side of the 500 for the Black team by a margin of .06 of a second. The 200 free was also swept by a pair of freshmen, as Brad Hubbard took the men's side for the Black and Lauren Cox came away with the victory for the Gold with a meet-record time of 1:52.88 (the previous record of 1:54.33 was set by Katy Chandler in 1999).

Junior Shannon Hogan got the women's Black team on track with a win in the 50 free, breaking Andrea Nigh's meet record with a time of 23.83. Senior captain Liz Schoborg set a meet record of her own in the 100 fly, besting Rikki Janes' 10-year old record of 58.03 with a time of 57.61.

On the men's side, the 100 fly concluded in a dramatic finish, as sophomore Lex Howard tapped out Israeli freshman Gilad Kaufman by .04 for a Black-squad victory. Sophomore sprinter Bennett Clark put his name in the record books a few minutes later, when he broke Roger Alvarenga's 100 free meet record of 47.24 with a time of 47.21.

Sophomore Sarah Menefee initiated the Gold squad's comeback bid late in the meet with a win in the 100 back, finishing in 59.25. Freshman diver Kendra Melnychuk contributed wins on both the 1 and 3-meter boards, and the Gold A squad completed the comeback with a meet record-setting 3:33.45 first-place finish in the women's 400 free relay.

"If you look at all the meet records we set today on the women's side, it's easy to see that we're in pretty good shape at this point," Mizzou head coach Brian Hoffer said. "The strokes went well today, but you could really see how much we've improved in the free."

"On the men's side, we really showed our depth today. I hadn't seen people race that much, so it was good to see how some of the guys responded."

The Tigers are in action again next Saturday, as they host the first-ever Show-Me-Showdown in the Mizzou Aquatics Center. In-state foes Truman State, Washington University-St. Louis, Missouri-Rolla, Missouri State, Saint Louis and Drury will be the first teams to square off wit the Tigers in their new facility. Admission is free and the meet starts at 11 a.m.