The first nitro-boosted invite weekend has come and gone, and we seem to have good grasp of the NCAA landscape at the midpoint of the season.

This week offers another opportunity to witness plenty of speed and fast times in the college-heavy short-course nationals in Atlanta and the Texas Invitational in Austin.

But while it's easy to get wrapped up in the same big names at these meets, we're shining a light on several of college swimming's "un-usual" suspects. Today, we look at the No. 2 Missouri Tigers men's team, which rose to its highest ranking in school history a week ago.

MISSOURI MEN'S TEAM

An eighth-place finisher at last season's NCAA championships, the Missouri Tigers had several incredible performances and showcased their breaststroke depth at the Mizzou Invite on Nov. 17-19. Michael Chadwick has some impressive times so far times this year, and his wide range of abilities is eerily similar to the likes of Caleb Dressel and Vlad Morozov, excelling at free, breaststroke, IM, you name it.

Chadwick's times of 19.18 in the 50 and 41.80 in the 100 free are already right on pace where he was this past season at NCAAs, and he is in the top three in both events so far this year. His 200 IM time of 1:43.01 is not far behind Dressel, and Chadwick also ripped a 52.62 in the 100 breast. However, it's not likely that Chadwick will be doing the 200 IM at NCAAs as it would be shortly before his 50 free.

Speaking of the breaststroke, the Tigers have some incredible depth in the event, and breaststroke phenom Mark Gangloff deserves props for his watchful eye on deck. Fabien Schwingenschlogl ripped a 51.07, Eddie Mapel was 52.73, and Jordan O'Brien was not far behind in 53.19. In addition to Chadwick's 52.62, Missouri has quite the training group, and that could mean big points at NCAAs.

And butterfly? How could we forget. Andrew Sansoucie's ridiculous 44.86 in the 100 fly was a loud shot heard around the U.S. That's a full second faster than he was at NCAAs this past season. Mizzou has a few vulnerabilities -- one of them being in sprint backstroke. However, Carter Griffin's 1:40.67 in the 200 last weekend could mean Missouri can count on him or possibly freshman Daniel Hein on a solid sprint to help out the medley relays.

In the mid-distance events, the Tigers have claws too. Mike Schreuders put up a 1:34.67 in the 200 free, and Nick Davis was 4:17.42 in the 500 free. And in the 400 IM, Nick Alexander was a solid 3:46.20.

By Adam Mania