2019 MIZZOU INVITATIONAL
- Wednesday-Friday, November 20th-22nd
- Mizzou Aquatic Center, Columbia, MO
- Short Course Yards
- Live Results
The Mizzou women just missed their school record in the 200 medley relay, winning in dominant fashion with a 1:35.69, almost two seconds clear of Arkansas. Haley Hynes (23.62 backstroke leg) and Sarah Thompson (22.22 fly leg) had immense swims, with freshman Molly Winer at 27.70 in breast and sophomore Megan Keil 22.15 anchoring.
In second was Arkansas, with the scintillating Anna Hopkin unleashing a 20.76 anchor leg as the Razorbacks went 1:37.34. Only Simone Manuel and Abbey Weitzeil have ever been faster (20.45 is their shared best split of all time), and Hopkin’s 20.76 is now the fifth-best performance in split history.
TOP WOMEN’S 50 FREE RELAY SPLITS EVER (UNOFFICIAL)
| 1 | Abbey Weitzeil | 20.45 (T-1) |
| 1 | Simone Manuel | 20.45 (T-1) |
| 3 | Abbey Weitzeil | 20.49 |
| 4 | Abbey Weitzeil | 20.57 |
| 5 | Anna Hopkin | 20.76 |
Hopkin went on to win the 200 free with a new lifetime best of 1:44.40, which looks like it’ll get an invite to NCAAs. Nebraska’s Autumn Haebig (1:47.47) was able to hold off Mizzou’s Samantha Porter (1:47.55) for second.
Mizzou’s Haley Hynes swam to a lifetime best of 50.70 to win the women’s 100 back, an A cut and the second-best time in the nation behind Beata Nelson’s 50.36 from tonight. The Tigers swept the podium, with Sarah Thompson in second with a lifetime best 51.43 and freshman Meredith Rees shaving another hundredth off of her best with a 52.09. All three were well under what it took to make NCAAs in this event last year.
The Tiger men had two under 1:35 in the 200 free, with Jack Dahlgren going 1:34.29 and Giovanny Lima hitting a 1:34.47. Dahlgren settled for second, though, as post-grad Mikel Schreuders zeroed in on a 1:33.92 for the victory.
Morganne McKennan of San Diego State posted a 59.83 to win the 100 breast, one-tenth quicker than the invite time from last season. Mizzou was left out of the top three as McKennan’s teammate Klara Thormalm was third (1:00.82) and Razorback Vanessa Hermann was sandwiched in-between them (1:00.54).
OTHER WINNERS/NOTABLE SWIMS
- Arkansas’ Peyton Palsha earned her second individual victory of the meet, going 4:11.14 to win the 400 IM by almost four seconds.
- Carter Grimes of Mizzou won the men’s 400 IM in 3:44.72, a time that looks like a decent bet to get invited to NCAAs.
- The men’s 100 breast went to Danny Kovac of Mizzou. The versatile sprinter was 52.73, a lifetime best, nipping BYU’s Josue Dominguez (52.90).
- Just off of his 400 medley relay lead-off from last night, Daniel Hein hit a 45.82 to earn another win for Mizzou in the 100 back.
- Mizzou didn’t contest the 800 free relay, and the Arkansas women (7:20.50) and Drury men (6:39.99) grabbed wins there.
She is the Dean Farris of Arkansas: pulling her relay team into NCAAs while herself being a title contender, and elevating a good Arkansas team into national relevance.
What’s her backstory? What brought her from the UK to Fayetteville?
Neil Harper is why she is there. He has always had the UK pipeline.
Crazy seeing all of these kids wearing the Avictor and skipping over the Venzo. Would be interesting to see what TYR has to say about that.
Actually, I believe this photo is about a year old and is from before the Venzo was available.
That is insane.
WPS
Hopkin’s best LCM 200 time, set a year before moving to Arkansas, is 2.08s (1.52 according to conversions). Quite remarkable.
She could probably score in this race at NCAAs. She obviously has the front-end speed, and her training in the 200 would, I imagine, help her 100 free. (Especially in long course.)
She was seeded into Winter Nationals with a 1:59 last year. She scratched it at both Winter nationals and NCAAs I think.