The Tigers will compete this week in the Big 12 swimming championships.
At No. 1 nationally, Texas might be the national focus of the Big 12 men’s swimming championships in College Station, Texas, but Missouri is focused on the hometown Aggies.
The Tigers are looking to avenge a narrow 151-147 loss to Texas A&M back on Oct. 14.
Texas A&M is No. 24 and has recently lost meets against No. 25 SMU at home and top-ranked Texas on the road.
“Our goal is to beat A&M,” Missouri sprinter Bennett Clark said.
Last week, however, the Aggies had the Big 12 swimmer of the week in Israel Duran. Duran is a 19-year-old freshman from Tijuana, Mexico who has performed extremely well in the past three weeks. Duran came in first in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly against then No. 24 LSU. He then came in first in the 200-yard butterfly again against No. 25 SMU on Jan. 26. Most recently, Duran came in third in the 100-yard backstroke against Texas on Jan. 27.
Duran was also first in the 200 and 100-yard fly events, and the 100-yard backstroke in the meet against Missouri in October.
“We really don’t know how good he is,” Missouri coach Brian Hoffer said of Duran.
The Missouri swimmers looking to challenge Duran in butterfly events are junior Alex Zasadny and sophomore Gilad Kaufman. Zasadny came in second to Duran in the 200 and 100-yard fly at Missouri. At Indiana on Jan. 20, he finished first in the 200-yard fly and second in the 100-yard fly against the Hoosiers.
Kaufman came in third in the 100-yard fly against A&M and second in the 200-yard fly. At Indiana, he was second in the 200-yard fly and third in the 100-yard fly. Kaufman also performed well in the 100-yard free, finishing in fourth.
Kaufman has enjoyed a much more successful season this year after struggling as a freshman.
Kaufman is from Netania, Israel and had a hard time assimilating to the culture of the United States.
“In Mediterranean culture people are really open, and my family is there,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman also cited a change in the facilities at Missouri and added support for the team as reasons for his improvement.
“It’s much different, we didn’t have the support (in Israel). We don’t have a facility like this, even for the national team,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman was a three-time Israeli national champion, winning the 2002 and 2003 100-meter butterfly championships as well as the 2002 100-meter freestyle title.
“Now it’s a lot better, I feel like the swimmer I was before I came here,” Kaufman said.
Texas A&M also had the Big 12 diver of the week. Eric Sehn, who is undefeated at 15-0 this season, won the award for the fifth time this year and eighth time in his career. Sehn is a junior from Edmonton and has been a diver on the Canadian World Cup team.
Missouri freshman Greg DeStephen is healthy after battling mono and is ready to challenge Sehn. DeStephen was second in the 3-meter dive and third in the platform dive in Indiana. DeStephen was part of the U.S. Elite Diving Academy, one of the most prestigious diving clubs in the country.
The Tigers should be rested after being off for three weeks, but they are unsure whether this will be an advantage, especially against a battle-tested A&M team.
Hoffer predicts that the Tigers’ battle with A&M may come down to the last race.
“It may come down to small points,” Hoffer said.