LSU Sweeps Delta State (M:195-80; W:188-103)

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, October 26. THE LSU swimming and diving team posted its third straight sweep of Delta State in a non-conference dual meet at the LSU Natatorium on Friday. The 19th-ranked LSU men won by a score of 195-89, and the LSU women tallied a 188-103 victory.

With the win the Tiger men moved to 2-2 in dual-meet action, and the Lady Tiger women upped its dual-meet record to 2-1. LSU has swept Delta State the past three seasons and improved to a combined 10-1 all-time against the Statesmen and Lady Statesmen.

The Tigers claimed first-place finishes in 26 of the 32 events. LSU also recorded top times of the heats in five additional events en route to the dual-meet sweep.

"You don't want to overlook a program, but they are a program that allows us to still focus on what we need to do right," said LSU head coach Adam Schmitt. "Who ever we face, we still have to prepare, warm up, focus and do the right thing no matter what. It was a good testing ground for us for next week.'

Schmitt gave several swimmers the opportunity to compete in different events. The move paid off as LSU won nearly every race.

"This gave us an opportunity to put some people in events that we normally don't put them in to expand their repertoire, said Schmitt."We could see some things where maybe there is somebody out there that can fill in our relay or something like that. It is nice to see how they could compete outside of their box."

Sophomore Signe Larson and junior Katherine Noland each collected two individual wins. On the men's side, sophomore Nate Telep, freshman Hannes Heyl, sophomore Sean LeNeave and junior Julius Gloeckner each posted multiple first-place finishes.

Noland, the SEC Female Swimmer of the Week, won the 100 backstroke in a time of 58.60. Noland, who mostly competes in freestyle and butterfly, added a victory in the 100 fly with a mark of 57.15. Larson swept the women's breaststroke events, posting times of 1:07.14 and 2:24.88 in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke, respectively.

LSU recorded the top four times of the women's 50 free led by junior Victoria Givens, who won the event in a clocking of 24.39. Leigh Ann King captured the 100 free (52.91), and freshman Kannon Betzen won the 200 free (1:52.37).

Betzen also led off the Lady Tigers' 200 free relay, which posted the fastest time of the heat. The group of Betzen, Sarah Dicharry, King and Monica McJunkin touched the wall at 1:37.33.

Senior Clare Schepens recorded a season-best time of 5:02.23 to win the 500 free, and sophomore Lauren Grandy claimed the 1000 free (10:32.33). Junior Berit Aljand took first in the 200 back (2:03.75), and junior Christina Herubin edged freshman Ali Sanford in the 200 fly with a mark of 2:08.66.

Telep earned his first-place finishes with a sweep of both men’s breaststroke events. He won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 59.27 and took the 200 breaststroke in a mark of 2:08.24.

Heyl led a 1-2-3 scoring effort by LSU in the 50 free with a winning mark of 21.26. The talented freshman also won the 200 backstroke with a three-second cushion (1:52.99). Gloeckner made his way back into the win column in the 100 free (46.54) and 200 fly (1:51.07) while posting the top time in the 100 fly (49.58) as well.

LeNeave won the 200 free (1:41.49) and the 500 free (4:39.61). Sophomore Luc Rykosky took first over junior Connor Farber in the 1000 free with a time of 9:50.02. Junior Miko Malberg won the 100 backstroke in a mark of 53.22.

Malberg, Roy Chambers, Andrew Reynolds and Brandon Selts opened the meet with first place in the 200 medley relay (1:34.76). LSU also posted the fastest time in the 200 free relay when Eric Zeller, Reynolds, Kevin Braud and Farber recorded a clocking of 1:27.01.

The Tigers carried their momentum from swimming events into diving as every LSU diver earned its NCAA Zone qualifying score. Freshman Michael Neubacher recorded his first collegiate win with first place in the 1-meter. Neubacher edged junior Niko Dalman, 348.75-348.37.

However, Dalman responded with first place in the 3-meter (338.32). Junior Nathan Schreiber finished second (323.10) and Neubacher was third (299.85).

In the women's 1-meter, sophomore Rachel Ware won by nearly 25 points with a score of 291.30. Senior Paige Brown took first in the 3-meter (306.67).

"We are beginning to put some things together that we are seeing in practice," said diving coach Doug Shaffer. "Overall, with five divers, we performed really well. We were at home so it was a lower pressure type of thing. I just asked them to relax and go out and have fun."

LSU renews its Southeastern Conference rivalry with Alabama next Friday, Nov. 2 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Lady Tiger women will also be facing Vanderbilt in a meet that begins at 3 p.m. CDT.

Special thanks to LSU for contributing this report.

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