Messages from the Coach
10-11-07 Purple-White Meet & Alumni Weekend
05-21-08 End
of Season Summary
2007-2008 was another successful season for the men’s and women’s swimming teams. We were able to regain the national championship title after a four day battle with rival Drury University. The men saw successes in the fastest meet in NCAA Division II history by breaking two school records. At the conference championships in Cleveland, MS, the women’s team continued their streak of conference championships and the men fought extremely hard for a fifth place finish.
The men’s team broke a total of three school records this year. Alex Totura lowered his own record in the 200 Free at the Miami Invitational in December with a time of 1:41.36. Jason Stokes broke the oldest record on the board with his 20.67 swim in the prelim of the 50 Free. He lowered it to 20.64 in the consolation final. Dan Bollini held that record since 1991. The 200 Medley Relay team comprised of Totura, Adam Pruess, Peter McCall, and Stokes dropped over .4 off of the previous school record with their time of 1:32.23.
The women’s team broke four school records this year. All of the records came at nationals. Senior, Laura Harp tied Meredith Rocha’s 100 Fly with a time of :56.49. Freshman, Anna Grinter swam an extremely smart swim on her way to breaking the record in the 200 Fly with a time of 2:04.03. The previous record was 2:05.15 held by Alison Blyth. Senior, Molly Polette had a phenomenal swim in the 500 Free to break Jess Martin’s school record with a time of 4:52.13. Molly added to her 500 Free record by negative splitting her 1650 for a time of 16:42.70. Diana Betsworth was the previous record holder with a time of 16:43.51.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone involved in Truman Swimming, specifically the parents and alumni. It is a great feeling to look up in the stands and view a sea of purple. The teams would not be able to do what they do without your support. No matter where our meets are, we always have the largest contingency of fans. I will look forward to this continuing in the future!