Photo Courtesy: Kyle Zedaker, LSU Athletics<\/p>\n
ROCKWALL – The LSU swimming teams raced to 18 wins over SMU this afternoon at the Rockwall Aquatic Center in a dual meet that will be decided tomorrow afternoon pending results of the LSU and SMU divers at the Tennessee Diving Invite. LSU leads 177-85 on the women’s side and 151-110 on the men’s side in the swimming portion of the meet.<\/p>\n
LSU Swimming captured 18 wins behind strong performances by Kara Kopcso and Caley Oquist Saturday afternoon at the Rockwall Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with our performance in the water today,\u201d LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said. \u201cI was interested to see how our men and women would respond after coming off the holiday and having a challenging week in training. The women really got off to a great start and never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scores for LSU\u2019s dual meet against SMU will not be final until Sunday afternoon. Both teams will include scores from their divers at the Tennessee Diving Invite.<\/p>\n
On the first day of the diving invite, Alex Bettridge and Cassie Weil finished in the top-five on three-meter. Weil finished third with a score of 328.25 and Bettridge finished fifth with a finals score of 319.35. Madison Sthamann also reached the final and finished 10th.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe women\u2019s contest was really good,\u201d LSU Diving coach Doug Shaffer said. \u201cAt this point in time we expect to have some rocky points. I think overall the competitiveness was good. We haven\u2019t put it all together yet but it was positive.<\/p>\n
Andrew Suchla led the Tigers by finishing ninth in the final of one-meter with a score of 302.20. Daniel Helm finished 11th with a score of 292.25.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the men\u2019s side, we didn\u2019t perform at the level that we should. It wasn\u2019t a bad performance but we have to compete better to reach our potential,\u201d Shaffer added.<\/p>\n
The Lady Tigers got off to a fast start at SMU by winning the first seven events. The team of Caley Oquist, Colleen O\u2019Neil, Amber Carter and Leah Troskot took first in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:41.68.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Devon Dabney took first in the 1000 free on the women\u2019s side with a time of 10:18.35. Freshman Jane MacDougall (10:24.08) touched the wall second for the Lady Tigers.<\/p>\n
Senior Megan Cox and junior Danielle Stirrat went 1-3 in the 200 free with times of 1:50.13 and 1:53.83 respectively.<\/p>\n
Oquist touched the wall first in the 100 back with a time of 55.36. O\u2019Neil followed her with a first place finish in the 100 breast (1:02.96).<\/p>\n
Kara Kopcso earned her first win for the Lady Tigers in the 200 fly (1:59.04). Sophie Weber followed in second place (2:03.12) and Kate Zimmer in third place (2:08.99).<\/p>\n
Carter notched the final win before the break in the 50 free with a time of 23.11. Troskot also finished third in the 50 free (24.09).<\/p>\n
Senior Frank Greeff took first in the 1000 free to get things started for the men with a time of 9:35.23. Alex Linge (1:41.88) finished second and Damen Pheiffer (1:42.41) finished third in the 200 free. Daniel Swietlicki also finished third in the 100 back with a time of 50.72.<\/p>\n
The men took the top three spots in the 100 breast led by Silas Dejean (56.65). Garrett House (57.56) and Harry Ackland (59.14) followed in second and third place.<\/p>\n
Marco Gonzalez wrapped up the first part of the meet with a win in the 50 free (20.66). Joao Mescolote followed in second place with a time of 21.02.<\/p>\n
After the break, Carter and Oquist finished second and third in the 100 free. Stirrat and Jennifer Reese finished second and third in the 200 back. O\u2019Neil then finished second in the 200 breast.<\/p>\n
Linge took first for the men after the break in the 100 free with a time of 46.10. Swietlicki finished second and Goldman finished third in the 200 back. The LSU men took the top three spots in the 200 breast. House took first with a time of 2:04.48. Dejean and Ackland followed in second and third place.<\/p>\n
Cox touched the wall first in the 500 free (4:59.56). Dabney followed in second place with a time of 5:03.04. On the men\u2019s side, Jake Markham finished second and Greeff finished third in the 500 free.<\/p>\n
Kopcso earned her second win of the day and swept the fly events with a time of 54.11. Carter followed in second place in the 100 fly (54.39). Oquist also earned her second win of the afternoon with a time of 2:04.17 in the 200 IM. O\u2019Neil and Weber followed in second and third place for the Lady Tigers.<\/p>\n
In the final two individual events on the men\u2019s side, Devin McCaffrey finished second and Linge finished third in the 100 fly. Swietlicki, Goldman and House also took the top three spots in the 200 IM.<\/p>\n
Troskot, Cox, Kopcso and Stirrat wrapped up the meet for the women with a win in the 400-freestyle relay (3:25.35).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe men got challenged early in the meet and really showed their composure and took care of business when they needed to,\u201d Geyer added. \u201cAnytime you can take a 1-2-3 finish in multiple events it will help the end result of the meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
LSU returns to action tomorrow for day two of the Tennessee Diving Invitational. The men will compete on three-meter, while the women compete on one-meter. The swimmers return to training before welcoming Tennessee to the LSU Natatorium for senior day Saturday Jan. 10, at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n
For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter @LSUswimdive.<\/p>\n