The Black and Gold meet showcased impressive swims and boasted a competitive drive for the rest of the season
The Mizzou Aquatic Center was amped up on Friday, Oct. 4 as the Tigers began their 2024-25 season with several personal-best times from new and returning members during the Black and Gold meet. The Tigers competed against their teammates in 24 separate events on both the men’s and women’s side.
Sophomore Zara Zallen took home first place in three events; 200-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle. Zallen was third last year in total points scored for the women’s team.
Senior Grant Bochenski blew past the 100-yard backstroke competition with a time of 45.83 seconds, beating the next fastest time by almost four full seconds. Sophomore Alex Ochsenbein hit a new personal best in the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 53.31 seconds.
Freshman Luke Nebrich hit a new personal best time in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing in just 19.81 seconds. This surpassed his old personal best by almost half a second. Transfer Francois Malherbe finished right behind him with a time of 19.95 seconds. Freshman Katie Gresik took home a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 4:48.95, completing a narrow finish thanks to a final push at the end to beat teammate Zoe Schneider by less than a second.
Junior Jan Zubik took home a pair of first-place finishes in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:43.08 seconds and the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:46.36 seconds.
Aside from those impressive swims, multiple members of the team agree that the team culture this year is something special.
“There’s so much under the surface that we know we can achieve, especially individually, everyone’s kind of breaking out,” Bocheski said.
This culture has been spearheaded under sixth-year head coach Andrew Grevers.
“[We’ve] made a very strong emphasis on our culture this year … really prioritizing one of our values, selflessness,” Grevers said.
Missouri junior Thomas Joswiak competes in the men’s 500 yard freestyleevent during the Black and Gold intrasquad meet on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, at the MizzouAquatic Center in Columbia, Mo. Joswiak placed last, finishing with a time of 4:43.36.
The team finished 27th place at the 2024 NCAA Men’s Championship, the lowest mark during Grevers’ tenure at Missouri.
“We are on track to do incredible things,” Grevers said. “When you look at the talent in the pool, it might not be what the rest of the country considers to be a top five, or top 10 program today. But knowing the talent we have in place, along with the culture we’re establishing and the way people are taking ownership over their everyday actions, we are trending that way.”
The Tigers officially kicked off their season as the women defeated Arkansas on the road at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12. Afterwards the whole team will return home for a dual meet against Purdue at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 25.
Missouri freshman Megan Jolly performs a dive during the Black and Goldintrasquad meet on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024 at the Mizzou Aquatic Center in Columbia, Mo.Team Black beat Team Gold 257-191.
Edited by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com
Copyedited by Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com