Kentucky Wildcats Beat LSU Tigers, Men and Women -- January 15, 2005

LEXINGTON, KY, January 15. THE LSU swimming and diving team dropped a pair of decisions to Kentucky, opening a four-meet road trip on Thursday evening at UK’s Lancaster Aquatic Center, per LSU reports.

The 12th-ranked Wildcat men tallied 138 points to the Tigers' 94, while the UK women won by a score of 140-96. Kentucky captured 18 of the 26 events, but LSU was able to sweep both women's diving events. The LSU men fell to 0-2 on the season, and the LSU women dropped to 1-2.

The Tigers did manage to post several season-best times and made progress towards the SEC Championships, which begin next month.

Jessica Wantz paced LSU on the day, winning both the 3-meter and 1-meter. The senior won the 3-meter with a season-best mark of 316.20. Later during the meet, Wantz took command of the 1-meter winning with a convincing score of 291.37. The Wildcats Joey Brown was the next highest finisher, posting a score of 259.42.

Freshman Kevin Braud showed great leadership, picking up a victory in the 200 backstroke with a career-high time of 1:50.75. LSU also got help from another freshman, Clare Schepens. Schepens won the 500 freestyle outlasting Kentucky's Kelly Morrison with a time of 5:10.76.

Lauren Harvey posted the fastest time of the season in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall at 1:54.56 to earn second place. Colleen Bertirotti also recorded a second-place finish, swimming a season-best time of 24.12 in the 50 freestyle.

Christian Clausen continued his excellent senior campaign capturing the 200 breaststroke (2:03.41). Myles Jaynes was also victorious with a time of 4:43.00 in the 500 freestyle.

The Tiger men's "A" team FJared Strecker, Ryan Cochran, Ryan Ashby and Jeffrey Vivo took first-place honors in the 400 freestyle relay by finishing with a time of 3:08.86.

LSU continues its dual meet season on Saturday, traveling to Knoxville to face nationally ranked Tennessee and Virginia at 1 p.m. EST from the Student Aquatic Center.