LSU Women on Top at Quad Meet After Day One

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, January 26. THE LSU women's swimming and diving team holds significant leads on Houston, Rice and UNO after the completion of Friday night's events of a two-day quad meet at the LSU Natatorium.

LSU leads Rice, 133-66, and the Lady Tigers hold a 136-69 margin on Houston and a 171-27 advantage on UNO. Rice leads Houston, 106-87 and UNO, 131-35. The Cougars take a 141-49 advantage over the Privateers into the final day.

Saturday's events, featuring the 400 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay, begin at 11 a.m. Two heats of the 500 free, 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 100 free and 400 individual medley will also take place.

Leading the way Friday night was senior diver Hali Saucier who added another sweep to her accolades. Saucier, competing in her final home meet, broke her own school record in the 3-meter with a score of 340.50. That mark registers as the fourth-best score in the SEC thi s season.

"Hali has improved every single year she has been here," said diving coach Doug Shaffer. "She has had a fantastic career and a fantastic dual-meet season. She beat her record that she beat earlier in the year against stiffer competition."

Saucier won her 16th event of the season when she completed her second-straight sweep with a 1-meter mark of 288.15. Freshman Rachel Ware took second-place with scores of 279.75 (1-meter) and 315.08 (3-meter).

"Rachel posted some of the best springboard performances of her career," added Shaffer.

The Lady Tigers swept both relays on the evening. Monica McJunkin, Signe Larson, Colleen Bertirotti and Sabrina Messmer won the opening race of the meet — the 200 medley relay — in a time of 1:44.97.

Katherine Noland, Bertirotti, Katie Gilmore and Messmer closed the evening with a victory in the 400 free relay (3:24.97).

Gilmore and Bertirotti led a 1-2 LSU finish in the 100 fly, recording times of 56.35 and 56.84, respectively. Larson and sophomore Sarah Bedell took first and second in the 200 breaststroke, led by Larson's clocking of 2:23.07.

The Lady Tigers took a commanding lead when LSU finished 1-2-3 in the 50 free. Gilmore was first (23.62), Noland was second (23.85) and Messmer was third (24.23).

Sophomore Berit Aljand was the Lady Tigers' highest finisher in the 100 backstroke with a runner-up time of 57.99, and junior Clare Schepens was fourth in the 1000 free (10:13.24). Sophomore Lauren Simons recorded a career-high of 10:31.84 in a sixth-place finish.

Saturday's Schedule of Events
(Beginning at 11 a.m., features two heats)

400 Medley Relay
500 Freestyle
200 Butterfly
200 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
100 Freestyle
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle Relay

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