School records were being set left and right by LSU swimmers, but the competition proved to be too much to handle, as the LSU swimming and diving squads wrapped up the Southeastern Conference Championships Saturday with the men finishing ninth overall and the women finishing seventh.
In the 200-yard medley relay on day one, the team of sophomore Caley Oquist, senior Torrey Bussey, junior Amber Carter and freshman Leah Troskot finished with a time of 1 minute, 37.34 seconds, an NCAA Championships qualifying time that only garnered them a sixth place finish in the event.
In the very next swimming event, the 800-yard freestyle relay, a school record was set when the team of sophomore Danielle Stirrat, sophomore Megan Cox, freshman Kara Kopcso and freshman Sophie Weber finished with a time of 7:11.39. The school record gave them a win in the first heat, but the team ended up finishing eighth overall.
The trend continued throughout the next four days. On day two, junior Frank Greeff put up a fast time in his respective event only to finish fifth.
Most LSU swimmers competed in either the B or C finals of their events, posting fast times and breaking school records.
Oquist set two school records in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events with times of 52.67 and 1:54.87, respectively. Greeff was also able to break his own school record in the 200-yard butterfly, posting a time of 1:43.66.
“On the women’s side, finishing seventh doesn’t really give credit to the performances we had in the water and on the boards,” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said in a news release. “The women’s team really developed since last year, and now they have the confidence moving forward.”
“The men’s team fought hard. We know it’s a very young team and a number of underclassmen stepped up and performed beyond expectation.” The one diver who stood out among the others was sophomore Cassie Weil.
Weil finished with two bronze medals, on the 3-meter and on the platform dive, with scores of 357.45 and 310.75, respectively. Weil’s score of 310.75 on the platform dive is a school record.
Junior Alex Bettridge set a personal best on the platform dive but finished just short of Weil and the podium.
On the men’s side it was a disappointment for the Tigers.
Senior diver Sean McKinney, an SEC Diver of the Week and school record holder in the 3-meter, missed the mark posting scores unlike what he is capable of in the 3-meter, scoring a 305.35 and finishing in 16th place.
“Sean was in a position to make it to finals, but he wasn’t consistent,” Shaffer said. “The ability and talent is there, but it hasn’t come through yet.”