Feb. 12, 2010

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri men's and women's swimming and diving teams began the fourth annual Missouri Gran Prix on a good note, with five Tigers making the finals Friday night.

Rachel Ripley began Friday by finishing fourth in the women's 100 breast preliminaries, clocking in 1:11.58 earning her a spot in the USA Summer Nationals. Ripley earned another fourth place finish in the finals, finishing .02 seconds faster than her prelim time.

Yaniv Shnaider made the finals of the men's 400 IM after finishing sixth in the prelims in 4:37.72, earning a spot in the Junior USA Nationals. Shnaider completed his day with a seventh overall finish in 4:37.66.

Molly Bollen parlayed a fifth place finish in both the prelims and finals of the women's 100 fly, finishing in 1:02.97 in the prelims and 1:03.28 in the finals. Her prelim time also qualified her for the US junior nationals.

Scott Martin made the "C" finals in the men's 100 fly, touching the pad in 57.25 seconds in 18th place, while Joe Hladik made the "C" finals in the men's 100 breast, earning a 20th place finish.

The Tigers will have a large contingent of swimmers competing tomorrow morning beginning at 9 a.m. with the women's 200 IM preliminaries. The event can be followed live at www.swimnetwork.com, with live results at http://www.csctigersharks.org/realtime/.