Columbia News

The University of Missouri swimming and diving teams completed their participation in the Georgia Invitational on Friday at Gabrielsen Natatorium. Both the men's and women's squads finished fifth overall, with the women scoring 492.5 points and the men totaling 524.

Missouri's diving team saw notable results, placing six athletes among the top ten finishers in platform events. Freshman Derek Colbert achieved his first career podium finish by taking second place in men's platform diving with a score of 356.75. Teammates Tommaso Zannella and Collier Dyer followed closely, finishing fourth and fifth with scores of 336.20 and 336.00, respectively. On the women's side, freshman Mia Henninger recorded a personal best score of 240.65 to secure fourth place in platform diving.

Across all swimming events on Friday, Missouri advanced 24 swimmers to finals, including five who reached A-competition finals. Zara Zallen earned a spot on the podium with a third-place swim in the women's 100 freestyle (48.58). The women's 400 freestyle relay team—composed of Zallen, Francesca Smith, Katie Kuehn, and Sierra Smith—finished fifth with a time of 3:15.93.

In other individual performances, junior Jan Zubik collected his second bronze medal of the invitational by finishing third in the men's 200 butterfly (1:41.65). Alex Ochsenbein placed fourth for Missouri in the men's 200 breaststroke (1:54.95).

Final standings showed Florida leading both men's (1,157.5 points) and women's (1,156.5 points) competitions.

Missouri's swimming squad is scheduled to compete next at the Toyota U.S. Open in Greensboro, North Carolina from December 4-7 while the diving squad will participate at USA Diving Winter National Championships in Bloomington, Indiana from December 7-15.