Louisiana State Duals

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, January 30. THE nationally-ranked LSU swimming and diving teams delivered a weekend sweep to close out the dual-meet season Saturday.

The 24th-ranked Lady Tigers (6-6) earned three victories in Houston as they defeated the Universities of Houston (207-138), Rice (216-119) and Tulane (245-95). The No. 17 LSU men (3-6) wrapped up the regular season with a 224-108 victory over the University of New Orleans.

Sophomore Mary Beck paced the Lady Tigers' efforts on their second day in Houston with wins in the 100-yard freestyle and 200 backstroke. The Austin, Texas, native recorded a season best and NCAA ‘B' cut provisional time of 50.00 seconds in the 100 free, which is sixth in program history, and registered another ‘B' cut mark in the 200 back, 1:58.28.

Freshmen Sally Wood and Sara Haley each posted victories with Wood taking first in the 400 individual medley in a career-best mark of 4:22.51 and Haley winning the 200 butterfly (2:03.23). Senior Lauren Grandy also earned a first-place finish with her mark of 5:00.25 in the 500 free.

In addition, the women topped the field in both relays. The 400 medley foursome of Beck, Kannon Betzen, Jane Trepp and Amanda Kendall opened the morning with a winning time of 3:46.83, while the 200 free group of Trepp, Kendall, Goates and Beck raced to victory with a 1:33.54 clocking in the meet's final race.

The Tigers swept both relays and received event victories from eight athletes in individual competition against the Privateers. Freshman diver Jesse Lyman enjoyed his best day of his young career as he won the one-meter springboard and qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional with the 10th-best score in program history, 327.23, and notched second in the three-meter with a career high of 328.80. Fellow men's diver Brian Gemberling took the title in the three-meter with his 346.80 score.

Junior Lamar Weeks and freshman Kevin Mihic each came through with season bests to win their respective events. Weeks captured first-place in the 200 fly with a 1:50.71 clocking, and Mihic swam to victory in the 500 free in 4:35.89.

Freshmen Zack Wepasnick, Nick Kunkel and Andrei Tuomola also finished on top with wins in the 100 breaststroke, 200 back and 100 free, respectively. Moreover, senior Nate Telep claimed first-place in the 400 I.M. (4:03.93).

The Tigers and Lady Tigers will now turn their attention to the 2010 SEC Championships, which will begin Feb. 17 in Athens, Ga. For more information on the teams' upcoming trip to SEC's, check back with www.LSUsports.net.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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