Feeding off the energy of a raucous LSU Natatorium crowd, the swimming and diving team swept Alabama on Friday, taking 24 of 32 possible events.
The meet started with a sweep of the 400 medley relays, and LSU never looked back as the No. 22 Tigers (2-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) defeated the No. 20 Crimson Tide 196-104, while the No. 17 Lady Tigers (5-1, 2-1, SEC) doubled up the Tide, 200.5-98.5.
“We set the tone right away again,” said swimming coach Dave Geyer. “We just kept it down on them the whole time.”
The Lady Tiger 400 medley relay team of sophomores Amber Carter and Katline Sepp and juniors Torrey Bussey and Rainey White started the meet in grand style, breaking the Natatorium record in 3:43.21.
Bussey continued to pace the Lady Tigers with another relay win, swimming a leg of the 400 freestyle relay, and two individual victories in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke.
Freshman Megan Cox notched the lowest Lady Tiger time of the season in the 200-yard freestyle, with freshman Danielle Stirrat and senior Sally Wood touching the wall behind her in second and third, respectively.
Geyer praised both the Tiger and Lady Tiger swimmers for coming to compete in a meet he said is circled on the schedule every year.
“It’s rising to the occasion of that SEC competition, that home pool, that Alabama weekend,” Geyer said. “We have this meet marked. We set the tone early.”
Notching an individual win in the 50-yard freestyle and swimming a leg of the first-place 400 medley relay, junior Michael Saco paced the Tiger victory, along with seniors Ricardo Alavarado Jimenez and Andrei Tuomola, who also swam legs of the relay.
Alvarado Jimenez took first in the 200-yard breaststroke, while Tuomola added a pair of second place finishes in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.
Challenging his divers like never before, diving coach Doug Shaffer lauded his team for rising to the occasion.
“I put a lot of pressure on the divers going into this event, with some expectations of what I wanted to accomplish,” Shaffer said. “We met about 98 percent of those goals and accomplishments.”
The Lady Tigers were led on the boards by sophomore Alex Bettridge, who took first place on the 1-meter and second in the 3-meter, while freshman Cassie Weil took second in both the 1-meter and 3-meter.
Sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter, the Tigers were led by junior Kevin Leong who won the 1-meter and junior Sean McKinney who won the 3-meter crown.
The meet was designated as a “Tiger Nights” event for other LSU teams to attend for points in pursuit of the inaugural Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes’ LSU Tiger Spirit Award, with volleyball coach Fran Flory, gymnastics coach D-D Breaux, and many of their athletes in attendance.
“It’s great within this program, in this athletic department, that the support for our student athletes is spread throughout all teams,” Geyer said. “To have an environment like that in a meet like this, you could feel the electricity in the building and our kids fed off that.”
LSU senior Sara Haley swims a stroke ahead of Alabama junior Kristel Vourna in the women's 200-yard butterfly during a swim meet on November 2, 2012.
