Florida State Men, LSU Women Split Dual in Tallahassee

Photo Courtesy: LSU Swimming and Diving

The No. 14 ranked Florida State men’s swimming and diving team edged out a win at home against LSU by a 153-145 margin. The LSU women claimed a 168-132 win.

Florida State’s Winners

The men were led by freshman Peter Varjasi, who contributed three individual wins including an LSU pool record-setting swim in the 100 free at 43.69.

“This was a great road win for the men against a good SEC team,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “The women had a great meet, they just lost too many events. The ladies actually had some in-season best times and they fought their tails off. I’m proud of both teams.”

Varjasi joins FSU Hall of Fame swimmers Brendon Dedekind and Stephen Parry on the LSU Natatorium record board, as Dedekind set the 50 free mark at 19.68 and Parry posted a 1:44.90 in the 200 fly back on Jan. 24, 1998. After finishing second in the 200 medley relay, freshman Scott Pekarske cruised to victory in the 1000 free, with a time of 9:23.03.

Freshman Aziz Ghaffari (1:37.49) along with seniors Vladimir Stefanik (1:38.39) and Rudo Loock (1:38.48) finished second, third and fourth in the 200 free. After LSU swept the 100 back, sophomore Izaak Bastian won the 100 breast with a time of 55.36 and freshman Nevada Wood won a close race for third at 56.46.

Senior Max Polianski (1:48.84) and freshman Nick Vance (1:50.02) contributed second and third place points in the 200 fly before Varjasi won the 50 free with a dual meet best swim of 19.90. His classmate, Ian Cooper took third at 20.44.

After the break, Varjasi set the pool record in the 100 free, followed by Vance (1:47.85) and sophomore Jackson Lucas (1:48.41) finishing second and third in the 200 back. Bastian held on to win a close 200 breast by one-tenth of a second at 2:00.56 and the Seminoles picked up a huge one-two boost in the 500 free, led by Ghaffari (4:30.45) followed by Pekarske (4:34.00). But before the break, the Tigers added a first and second place showing in the 100 fly.

Senior Cam Thatcher and junior Joshua Davidson finished second (382.05) and third (370.80) on 3-meter, but Davidson put up a huge victory on 1-meter with a total 365.70, which was 55.57 points higher than the second place finisher, giving the Noles a slight 133-129 edge.

Out of the break, Varjasi won the 200 IM by two seconds at 1:48.00 and Vance followed in fourth (1:51.78) and Loock (1:52.44) took fifth, putting the pressure on the Tigers heading into the final event. LSU would win the 200 free relay, but the Seminoles claimed second (1:21.53) and third place (1:21.63) and the meet win.

The women started off the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay behind sophomore Maddie McDonald, sophomore Nina Kucheran, sophomore Aryanna Fernandes and junior Rebecca Moynihan at 1:39.34.

Sophomores Maggie Emary and Stephanie Holmes led a one-two showing in the 1000 free, with Emary winning at 10:15.91 and Holmes following in second at 10:17.32. Their classmate, Kertu Alnek followed with a second place finish in the 200 free (1:50.05) and McDonald was the runner-up in the 100 back at 55.56.

Kucheran dominated the 100 breast with a time of 1:00.76 and Fernandes followed by taking second in the 200 fly (2:00.99). But the Tigers finished the front part of the meet with a sweep in the 50 free.

Out of the break, Alnek won the 100 free (50.45) but LSU answered with a one-two finish in the 200 back. Kucheran swam her season best dual meet time in the 200 breast for the win at 2:12.04, but LSU added another one-two finish in the 500 free. Fernandes added a second place finish in the 100 fly (54.90) before the final break.

In diving the Seminoles were led by senior Molly Carlson, as she finished second on 1-meter (282.45) and third on 3-meter (332.10). Her classmate, Ayla Bonniwell took fifth on 1-meter (251.78) and fourth on 3-meter (273.38).

Kucheran posted her third win on the day in the 200 IM (2:03.25) and freshman Sydney VanOvermeiren followed in second (2:03.53). FSU would take second in the final 200 free relay with a time of 1:32.11 behind Moynihan, junior Emma Terebo, Fernandes and Alnek.

LSU’s winners

In the pool, Helen Grossman and Cassie Kalisz both won multiple events in route to the Tigers victory. Grossman won both the 100 and 200-Yard Fly with times of 53.94 and 1:58.72. This marks the sixth time the senior has won the 100-Yard Fly this season. Kalisz swept the backstroke events for the fifth time this season. She touched the wall in 54.37 in the 100-Yard and 1:58.11 in the 200-Yard. Katarina Milutinovich, Natalie Kucsan, and Summer Stanfield also brought home individual wins for the Tigers. Milutinovich won the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:48.17, Kucsan won the 50-Yard Free with a time of 23.40, and Stanfield won the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:53.54.

On the men’s side, Lewis Clough and Karl Luht both brought home multiple individual wins. Clough won the 100-Yard Fly for the third time this season with a time of 48.40 and the 200-Yard for the second time with a time of 1:47.72. Luht won both both backstroke events for the second time this season with times of 48.22 in the 100-Yard and 1:47.15 in the 200-Yard. Brooks Curry, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, also claimed a victory for the men as he won the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:36.70.

“We knew the women’s team was capable of swimming like this,” said LSU head swim coach Dave Geyer. “There is talent in all classes. When you look at the results and who performed well it is the senior class all the way down to our freshman class. When I looked at the scheduling and I saw this opportunity to get a lot of racing in about four or five weeks out from the SEC Championships, I jumped on it. To us dual meets, although fun to win, are all about training and preparation for the end of the season.”

On the boards, Aimee Wilson led the way for the women, winning both the one and three-meter springboard events. She scored a 288.08 on one-meter and a 337.95 on three-meter. This marks the second time in Wilson’s career that she won both springboard events in the same meet, as she did so last season against Houston and Rice. Hayley Montague dove to a score of 336.75, a new career best, to earn the silver on three-meter. She also dove to a score of 269.78 on one-meter to finish in fourth place. Anne Tuxen finished in third and fifth place on one and three-meter with scores of 277.35 and 281.33.

For the men, Manny Vazquez Bas set a new career best to win three-meter with a score of 403.20 and dove to a score of 310.13 on one-meter to take the silver. Dakota Hurbis dove to a score of 316.80 on three-meter and 291.00 on one-meter to finish in fourth and third place.

“To win three of the four events, set two personal bests, and sweep the one and three-meters at this point in January is great,” said LSU head diving coach Doug Shaffer. “This was exactly what I wanted to see as we are making the turn and looking to the championship season. I wanted to see the performances we had and I am very happy. Tomorrow is a new day so we have to get up tomorrow and compete again just like we will at the SEC Championships.”

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Florida State Swimming and LSU Swimming. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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