COLUMBIA – The MSU men and women swimming teams had impressive performances at the Mizzou Last Chance dual Sunday as two school records were broken,13 lifetime bests and 21 season bests were posted.
The meet served as a last chance national qualifying event. Therefore, no team scoring was recorded as events were strictly individual. In addition to no team scoring, there were no diving events.
"We are starting down the home stretch of meets for the regular season," head coach Dave Collins said. "Today, the group raced tough and put up some powerful results. We seem to be improving each time we compete this year which is a good sign for things to come."
The senior duo of Libby Howell and Anna Miller continued their dominance as both set new school records. Howell swam a 1:46.51 in the 200 free for her school record while Miller swam a 48.95 100 free for hers.
"I am really happy with my swims today," said Miller. "Lifetime bests are always something to be grateful for, especially in a crazy year like this. "Breaking the 49-second barrier is something that I have been working towards for a long time and it feels good to finally achieve it. With so many lifetime bests across the whole team, we are in a really great spot to accomplish some amazing things the rest of the season."
Michael Hampel turned in impressive performances in both the 100 breaststroke (55.02) and the 200 breaststroke (2:00.88).
"It was great to see the performances we had this weekend," Hampel acknowledged. "These swims are going to be a huge confidence boost when we face conference opponents in the coming weeks. The sky is the limit for us as we move toward championship season."
The 200-backstroke featured two lifetime bests for the women as Kellie Fischer swam a 2:02.05 and Ainsley Krug posted a 2:03.61
"Being able to post a best time without being as fully prepared as I would be for the conference championship really shows me that the work I am putting in is paying off," Fischer stated.
Krug then followed up her performance in the 200-backstroke with another lifetime best in the 400 IM (4:34.78).
Pawel Krawczyk was dominant in his individual performances, swimming a 4:23.95 in the 500 free and a 1:46.56 in the 200 butterfly.
Freshman Dylan Moffatt posted his second lifetime best this season in the 1650 free, swimming a 15:08.07.
"Swimming two lifetime bests in the 1650 this season has put a lot of confidence in my swimming," Moffatt said. "I am really looking forward to seeing it all come together at the end of the season."
Both teams will be back in action March 5-6, when they travel to Carbondale, Ill., to compete against the Southern Illinois Salukis.
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