Missouri at Southern Illinois, Kentucky
The Missouri Tigers will travel across the border to Carbondale, Illinois to face off against Southern Illinois and Kentucky in a tri-state tri-meet.
The Missouri men will be facing off in their first dual meet under the leadership of former Arizona top assistant Greg Rhodenbaugh. They are led into this meet by senior sprinter Jordan Hawley, who scored an easy 100 free victory in the all-Missouri invitational last week at 46.56. Missouri also has a very good diver in Dante Jones.
Southern Illinois is swimming their first meet of the season, after opening with their traditional Saluki Open Water meet. They will be one of the better teams in the MVC this year.
The Kentucky men get a big fat question mark next to them. They are in serious rebuilding mode this season after a breakout year last year that included a 5th place finish in both the 200 and 400 free relays. The only returning NCAA participant on the roster from last year is 6’5 senior Tyler Reed. Last season, he led off the 800 free relay in a 1:37.0, and also split a team-best 42.34 in the 400 free relay. He and Hawley should have a great showdown in the 100 free. Missouri should get the win over Kentucky and S. Illinois, and Kentucky should win the dual with the Salukies.
For the women, Missouri is already off to a hot start this season, including a 56.3 from Dominique Bouchard in the 100 back. Southern Illinois also has a very good 100 backstroker in freshman Isabela Castro, who led off the 400 medley relay with a split of 58.7 in the Saluki’s win over Vanderbilt last week. Chatham Penrod, a redshirt senior for Kentucky who was 16th in the country last year in the 100 back, will round out a very strong backstroke field.
Other Meets
The Texas Women head to California (Pac 10) in a big early-season showdown Saturday at 1 CT
The Iowa State women swim at Minnesota (Big Ten) Saturday at 1 CT
The Kansas women head to the dessert to participate in quad relay and quad traditional meets at Arizona (Pac 10) Friday at 2 CT and Saturday at 10 CT
