Mizzou Dual Challenge - Day Two

Men - 87, Southern Illinois - 61; Women - 98, Southern Illinois - 48
Men - 122.5, Drury - 44.5; Women - 96, Drury - 70

 

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Virginia Tech men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept Southern Illinois and 2007 NCAA Division II champion Drury on day two of the Mizzou Dual Challenge on Saturday at the Mizzou Aquatic Center after sweeping Illinois and Missouri State a day earlier.

In an unique format, the Mizzou Dual Challenge involves six schools, including host Missouri, competing against one another during a three-day stretch. Also, instead of the standard 16 events for a meet, the teams only competed in eight swimming events and one diving event for each match.

Tech was leading Missouri State and Illinois (women only) after day one but needed to complete the diving events on Saturday for those matches to become official. All of the schools had their divers compete at the same time with points then being tabulated for each match.

Tech's men defeated Missouri State (92-75), Southern Illinois (87-61) and Drury (122.5-44.5) to improve their record to 5-2, while the women defeated Missouri State (138-29), Illinois (116-51), Southern Illinois (98-48) and Drury (96-70) to improve their record to 7-1 overall.

The women won a total of 10 events as Jessica Botzum (Raleigh, N.C.) and Lauren Ritter (Sterling, Va.) each had two event victories after the day was completed. Botzum won the 100 IM and 50 breaststroke, while Ritter finished first in the 500 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle.

Abby Barney (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Jordan McHorney (Virginia Beach, Va.) posted wins in 200 butterfly and 50 freestyle, respectively. Earlier in the day, McHorney and Botzum teamed up with Megan Newell (Ashburn, Va.) and Kaleigh Gomes (Charlotte, N.C.) to win the 200 medley relay.

For the men, current ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Performer of the Week Scott Beard (Chesterfield, Va.) again had a dominating performances as he won the 100 IM, the 50 backstroke and the 50 freestyle. Tech won a combined 10 events against Southern Illinois and Drury.

Carter Moore (Richmond, Va.), Ian deToll (Culpeper, Va.), and Griffin Lutterbein (Manakin-Sabot, Va.) posted victories in the 200 backstroke, 50 butterfly and 1,650 freestyle, respectively. Beard, deToll, Jake Bova (Roanoke, Va.) and Kaan Tayla (Ankara, Turkey) won the 200 medley relay, and Zach Holmes (Clifton, Va.) swapped with Tayla to help Tech win the 400 freestyle relay.

"It's been a lot of fun out here in Missouri," Head Coach Ned Skinner said. "The team has responded very well to our unique format of dual meets. Scott Beard continues to show why he's one of the hottest swimmers in the NCAA. Jordan McHorney has emerged very strongly this weekend for the women as have the usual suspects, Jessica Botzum and Allison Luttermoser."

The divers also had strong performances as Mikey McDonald (Annandale, Va.) and Sarah Milton (Plano, Texas) both won the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events to add points to all of the meet victories.

"The diving team has really been showing great consistency doing championship formats of dives and are also showing for this time of the season that they're ready for the championship format," diving coach Ron Piemonte said. "Tomorrow, they will be participating in an exhibition platform event where they don't normally get a chance to dive in platform events until the ACCs. I've been really pleased with the performance of the divers this weekend."

The H₂Okies will next face Missouri on Sunday for the final dual meet of the three-day challenge, with the competition set to begin at 9 a.m. (CT). Both women's programs are ranked as Tech is No. 25 and Missouri is No. 20.

"We have our biggest meet tomorrow as we face Missouri, and it's going to be a showdown in the 'Show Me State', so we're excited as the Hokies continue to grow and improve as we head to the Nike Cup and ACC Championships," Skinner said.