In its first tri-dual meet, the men and women of Missouri swimming and diving traveled to West Lafayette, Indiana, to compete against the Purdue Boilermakers and the Michigan Wolverines. The men defeated Purdue 160-139 and lost to Michigan 193-106, while the women took down Purdue 179-121 and fell to Michigan 215-85.
On the men’s team, the Tigers won 3 individual races and 1 relay race. They were led by senior freestyle, backstroke and butterfly swimmer Jack Dahlgren, who won the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and contributed as the first leg on the winning 400 freestyle relay team. Senior backstroke and butterfly swimmer Danny Kovac also scored an individual victory in the 100 yard butterfly.
In the 1000 freestyle race, Missouri senior freestyle swimmer Jack Dubois took a close second place to Michigan’s sophomore distance swimmer Jake Mitchell, with 1.16 seconds separating their final times. Mitchell took off from the beginning of the race, with Dubois following closely behind after each lap. Dubois was able to close the gap in the 16th lap, but he couldn’t overcome Mitchell’s strong start.
The women of Missouri pulled out two individual wins, both of which came from fifth year freestyle and backstroke swimmer Sarah Thompson. Thompson won the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Thompson also swam the second leg on the 400 freestyle relay team, who took a close second place behind Michigan’s A team.
Thompson swam a tough race in the 50 freestyle, facing off against Michigan’s senior butterfly and freestyle swimmer Maggie MacNeil. MacNeil was awarded Big Ten Swimmer of the Week during the week of Oct. 13 for her five victories in the SMU Classic. However, MacNeil couldn’t outduel Thompson, who won by .14 seconds.
In the women’s 100 butterfly, Thompson won with a time of 52.16 seconds, beating her previous personal record of 52.57 seconds from the Mizzou Invite 2020. Thompson’s new record moves her up to the third-fastest time for the 100 butterfly in program history.
Both the men’s and the women’s teams will be back for the Mizzou Invite in the Mizzou Aquatic Center on Nov. 17-19.
Edited by Mason Arneson | marneson@themaneater.com