COLUMBIA, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2019) – Juniors Brayden Love and Katelyn Blattner opened up the first day of the Mizzou Invite with two record breaking performances. Love captured the all-time record in the 100 butterfly while Blattner broke the all-time mark in the 500 freestyle. The men currently sit in fourth with 191 points followed by the women in seventh with 118 points.
 
Love would waste no time getting things started for Wyoming as he would set a school record in the sixth event of the day. In the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly, he would finish in fourth place touching the wall at 47.20 to break the school mark and reach an NCAA B cut time. The previous best mark was held by George Eglesfield of 47.30 in 2016. In the finals, Love recorded a fifth place finish with a time of 47.35.
 
Blattner had a solid start in the 500 freestyle finishing third in the preliminaries with a time of 4:47.47. At the time, it was the second best time in school history and a career-best mark for the junior. In the finals, she would swim a school record time of 4:46.99 for a fourth place finish. Former Cowgirl Kelly Sheldon held the previous mark of 4:47.26 which was set in 2017.
 
"It doesn't happen very often in our sport where nearly every swimmer goes a best time, but it did today," head coach Dave Denniston said. "Katelyn and Brayden breaking school records was definitely the highlight. Overall, I'm really poud of how everyone competed. The divers were excellent and the swimmer defined Cowboy and Cowgirl Tough. It was a really fun first day."
 
Sophomore Lainee Jones would finish ninth in the prelims of the same event with a time of 4:53.82. She touched the wall in a time of 4:50.07 to also place ninth in the finals.
 
In the 100 butterfly, junior Hannah Mclean-Leonard would have a strong performance finishing second in the prelims with a time of 53.89 which would be a season best time for her. In the finals, she would record a time of 54.51 and end up taking sixth in the event.
 
In the men's 500 freestyle prelims, sophomore Ryan Netzel would lead the way as he swam to a fourth place finish clocking a time of 4:26.11. Senior Seth Borgert along freshmen Cameron Murphy and Thomas Diaz would place 10^th, 12^th and 13^th respectively in the prelims. In the finals, Netzel would record a new career best in the event as he clocked a time of 4:23.99 on his way to a second place finish. His time is fourth all-time in program history. Borgert, Murphy and Diaz would finish eighth, ninth and tenth with times of 4:29.91, 4:31.75 and 4:32.03, respectively. 
 
In the women's 200 IM, freshman Emily Giles would earn a spot in the finals after finishing seventh in the prelims with a season best time of 2:01.62. The time would also move her into seventh on the Cowgirls all-time top ten list. In the finals, Giles would take eighth with a time of 2:01.97.
 
Love would follow up his earlier performance in the 200 IM prelims with an eighth finish and a time of 1:48.63. Senior Tyler Klatt would take tenth in the prelims with a time of 1:49.91. In the finals, Love would record a time of 1:48.57 to take eighth place as well.
 
In the men's 50 freestyle prelims, two Cowboys would earn top eight finishes as sophomore Grant Sloan and senior PJ Musser finished sixth and seventh with was at the time season best marks of 20.31 and 20.36, respectively. Musser finished with a career-best time of 20.09, which is third all-time, while Sloan swam a career-time of 20.26, which is fourth on the Cowboys all-time top ten list.
 
The team of Giles, sophomore Phoebe Browne, Mclean-Leonard and Jones would take sixth in the women's 400 medley relay with a season-best time of 3:42.76. The Cowboys would earn a podium finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Musser, Love, Bouda and Sloan would clock a time of 1:21.30 to finish third.
 
On the boards, freshman Melissa Mirafuentes would lead the way for the Cowgirls. In the 3-meter prelims, she would take third as she posted a score of 294.85. Redshirt junior Karla Contreras would also qualify for the finals after taking eighth in the prelims with a score of 269.30. In the finals, Mirafuentes would improve upon her score achieving a mark of 311.60 as she would place third. Contreras would finish sixth in the finals with a score of 293.80.
 
On the men's side, the Cowboys would compete in the 1-meter. The duo of junior Elijah Chan and sophomore Brendan Byrnes would finish fifth and sixth in the prelims with scores of 254.00 and 249.40, respectively. In the final, Byrnes would finish sixth posting a score of 259.45 while Chan finished in eighth with a score of 240.05.
 
Both squads will be back in action tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. MT followed up by finals set for 5 p.m. Events taking place include the 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter.