Missouri State Men, Mizzou Women Win Show-Me-Showdown

Saturday's Show-Me-Showdown, Missouri State captured the men's title while host Missouri, led by first-place finishes in all 16 events, captured the women's meet.  The meet was a bright spot that, considering the playoff elimination of the Cardinals, and gridiron losses by the Rams and Tigers, was more of a Show-Me-Setback.

Junior Roko Simunic led the way for Missouri State two individual titles in the 100-yard individual medley and the 50-yard backstroke, where he is ranked 11th in the world.  Senior Nicolas Villarroel (100 Backstroke), freshman Nikolas Gustaffson (500-yard Freestyle) and junior Cajun Skinner (50-yard breaststroke) were the other Bears earning individual titles.

“We have been practicing really hard all year,” assistant coach Dave Collins said, “the kids really responded well today.  We are ahead of where we were at this time last year.”

Defending NCAA Division II Drury finished third in both the men's and women's meets.  The Panthers left several swimmers home with illness, including 2009 NCAA-II National Women's Swimmer of the Year Yuan Qing Li.

"It's just a good start for us," Drury coach Brian Reynolds said. "We knew going in that it was more of a sprint-style meet, which is really not our forte, but we're pleased with our performances. This gives us an opportunity to see what we really need to focus on."

The Tigers started the day off to a winning start as the women's 200 free relay team of senior Kim Jasmer, junior Francie Szostak and sophomores Lisa Nathanson and Stephanie Rovig claimed first-place with a time of 1:34.29.

Mizzou took the top three spots in the women's 100 IM, led by senior Colleen Gordon's time of 59.16 for a first-place finish. Freshman Dominique Bouchard finished second with a time of 56.30 while junior Lauren Lavigna swam a 56.92 for third.

Gordon also claimed victory in the 50 fly with a 25.97, ahead of senior Molly Bollen and sophomore Stephanie Rovig, who finished third and fourth in the event with times of 26.33 and 26.53, respectively.

Freshman Cassie Cunningham claimed the first victory of her Mizzou career in the 100 back with a time of 55.98, the sixth fasted mark in Tiger history. Bouchard recorded another second-place finish with a 56.30, which was the eighth best time in program history. Lavigna took third with a time of 56.92. Cunningham continued her strong day with another first-place finish in the 50 back with a time of 26.50 and Lavigna had a time of 27.08 to take second place

The trio of junior Morgan McCleery, Gordon and Nathanson swept the top three spots in the 50 breast. McCleery won her second event of the day with a 30.66 while Gordon and Nathanson finished second and third, respectively, with times of 30.91 and 31.03.

In the 100 breast, Missouri had five of the six top finishers, paced by junior Morgan McCleery's time of 1:05.75 for first. She was followed by freshman Rachel Ripley (1:06.04) in second place and sophomore Emy DiBenigno (1:06.65), Nathanson (1:07.61) and sophomore Kayla Durnil (1:07.97), who finished in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

In the 50 free, Nathanson finished ahead of Jasmer to claim first with a 23.11, while Jasmer recorded a time of 23.67.

Jasmer and classmate Molly Bollen finished one-two in the 100 fly as Jasmer took first with a 53.23 and Bollen claimed second place with a time of 55.55.

Bouchard claimed her own event win with a 2:07.76 in the 200 IM and Lavigna came in second with a time of 2:09.15 while Rovig scored top honors in the 500 free with a 5:01.07.

The 400 free relay team got the second session off to a good start as the squad of Jasmer, Szostak, freshmen Ashley Paterson and Sydney Schaefer recorded a time of 3:32.22. The Tigers took the top spot in the 400 medley relay when Melissa Jamerson, Lavigna, McCleery and Szostak recorded a time of 3:49.89.

Mizzou closed out the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay as the team of Lavigna, McCleery, Gordon and Nathanson led the field with a time of 1:46.19.

The Tigers dominated the diving well as well, claiming first-place in both the 1-meter and 3-meter. The 1-meter was scored as a team scramble, where each member on the team completed six dives covering all five groups with true degree of difficulty. The points from each diving group's highest scorer counted toward the team total score, and the best score per diving group (front, back, reverse, inward, twist, 6th opt.) counted towards the total. In the 3-meter, sophomore Jordan Morcom took first with a 283.5 to finish ahead of sophomore Christina Gailey and junior Abby Zepeda, who had scores of 229.85 and 224.20, respectively, for second and third place.