The No. 20 LSU men’s swimming and diving team rolled to a victory against three teams Saturday in the Phil Hansel Invitational — totaling 1047.5 points in the three-day tournament to separate itself from Wyoming by 48.5 points.
The Tigers (2-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) were paced in the pool by seniors Craig Hamilton and Ricardo Alvarado Jiminez, both taking first place with NCAA cut times.
Hamilton won the mile in 15:14.67, an NCAA provisional cut time, while Alvarado Jiminez took the gold in the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA B cut of 1:59.20.
Swimming coach Dave Geyer praised Hamilton and sophomores Michael Young and Frank Greeff, who took first in the 100 and 200 backstroke and 100 and 200 butterfly, respectively, as three Tigers swimming toward preseason goals.
“They are having fun with it. They all have goals,” Geyer said. “Craig wants to return to NCAAs and get a top-eight finish in the mile. Frank and Michael both want that experience for the first time.”
Young also swam a leg of the winning 200 medley relay, along with seniors Andrei Tuomola and Raymond DePadua and junior Michael Saco, out-touching the competition in 1:29.19 — one of three Tiger relay wins on the weekend.
Junior Daniel Helm led the Tigers on the boards, taking first in the platform and setting a season-best on the 3-meter in the preliminary before finishing eighth overall.
Helm’s platform score of 369.90 was the second-best score in program history, garnering praise from diving coach Doug Shaffer in the team’s first encounter on the platform this season.
“Overall, I am pleased that the efforts we have put in on platform are showing results,” Shaffer said. “Hopefully that breeds confidence with what are doing in the pool.”
The No. 19 Lady Tigers (5-1, 2-1 SEC) worked their way to a fourth-place finish behind No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 23 Arkansas and SMU.
Senior Jana Ruimerman and sophomore Amber Carter led the Lady Tigers, with Ruimerman posting an NCAA provisional time of 1:57.33 in the 200 backstroke and Carter swimming a season-low 50.19 in the 100 freestyle.
Junior Torrey Bussey added a season low 1:01.62 in the 100 breaststroke while also swimming a leg of the 200 medley relay that finished fifth.
On the boards, sophomore Alex Bettridge won the 1-meter springboard with a career best 305.20, while freshman Cassie Weil claimed the runner-up title on the platform with a 263.85.
Weil added a third-place finish on the 3-meter with a 324.25, impressing Shaffer along the way.
“We are further ahead than we’ve ever been at this particular point of the season,” Shaffer said.
