The last day of the Big 12 Championships at the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas, happened to be the best day for the MU men’s and women’s swimming team.
The men finished in third place with 788 points, the most points ever for the team. Texas won the competition for the ninth-straight year.
The Tigers had 16 top-eight finishes on Saturday, including nine by freshmen.
The highlight was the naming of coach Brian Hoffer as Coach of the Meet, which came as a shock to him.
“I wasn’t even paying attention when they announced it,” Hoffer said. “It just shows how well our guys performed this weekend.”
The women’s team finished the competition in fifth place. Texas won the women’s competition, its seventh-straight title.
“We struggled a bit this weekend, but we also had some very good performances,” Hoffer said. “Overall, though, we accomplished what we wanted to this season.”
The women’s highlight came when Mariona Costa broke the school record in the 200-yard breaststroke while finishing fifth in the event.
The competition marked the end of the season for the swimmers, except for possibly Amanda Morford, Matt North and Costa, who each qualified for consideration to nationals.