Oct. 24, 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Big 12 Conference announced Wednesday that University of Missouri junior Kendra Melnychuk won the conference's first Diver of the Week award of the 2007-08 season. This is the Canadian's third time receiving the honor in her career as a Tiger. She was also named the conference's Diver of the Week for meets Nov. 27-Dec. 10 and Jan. 22-Feb. 4 last season.

The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native opened the 2007-08 season with a victory in the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 307.13. Melnychuk lit up the diving well the following day at the Show Me Showdown with another win on the 3-meter board (270.80) and then led Mizzou to gold in the 1-meter diving scramble competition. After qualifying for NCAA Zones at the Showdown, Melnychuk returned to the well for wins on both the 1- (279.35) and 3-meter boards (278.10) against defending Big 12 Champion, Texas A&M.

On the men's side, sophomore standout Martin Cernansky boasts three individual wins on the young season. The Austrian began 2007-08 with a win in the 200 breast vs. Indiana in a time of 2:01.89 and then returned to the pool a day later to earn his second win of the weekend in the 100 breast (56.72) at the Show Me Showdown. Cernansky continued his hot streak with a victory in the 200 IM (1:54.32) in last week's dual triumph over conference rival Texas A&M.

Columbia native Dante Jones has also come up big for the Tigers in his freshman campaign. Jones recorded a winning score of 312.45 on the 1-meter board in his collegiate debut against national diving powerhouse Indiana and followed this up with a NCAA Zone qualifying score of 244.90 on the 3-meter board at the Show Me Showdown the next day.

Melnychuk and the Tiger women travel to Lawrence, Kan., for a dual matchup with the rival Jayhawks on Friday at 6 p.m. Cernansky, Jones and the Mizzou men return to action at the Mizzou Dual Challenge, Nov. 2-4, at the Mizzou Aquatics Center.