The LSU swim and dive team has gotten off to a good start in the SEC Championships. Four LSU records (the 800-free relay, 200-free, 50-free, and 200-free relay) have been broken already, and they all involve one freshman: Brooks Curry.
Brooks Curry has had a stellar start to his career at LSU.
Coming into the meet, he held the fourth best 200-free (1:36.08) and the sixth best time in the 100-free (43.38). He’s proved himself multiple times this season and proved himself again in the SEC Championships.
The first top time he obtained was in the 200-free. Dropping exactly three seconds, he swam a historic 1:33.08 pace in the leadoff split of the 800-free relay. The relay team, composed of Curry, Karl Luht, Lewis Clough and Ben Hooper, would also earn an LSU record (6:20.51).
Curry broke the 50-free record twice. In prelims, he broke it with a time of 19.41, securing the sixith spot in the A-Final.
In the 200-free relay, Curry, Luht, Clough and Matthew Klotz swam a 1:17.50, which gave them the record, and Curry would break his own record with a leadoff time of 19.30. He would also finish sixth in the 50-free finals with a 19.39.
Other swimmers who impacted the record books were Lexi Daniels and Isak Vikstrom, who each earned the fifth best times in the 500-free.
Despite the solid performances, the depth that’s in attendance has made it difficult to earn points. Regardless, swim coach Dave Geyer is proud of his team.
“While it’s easy to sit here and try to split hairs over what things could’ve been, it’s also hard to complain about personal bests and school records,” said Geyer.
On the diving side, the championships began with the women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter dives. In prelims, Aimee Wilson scored a strong 300.90, placing second and qualifying for the finals.
In a competitive final round, Wilson would clutch it out with strong scores in her last three dives, earning a silver medal with a score of 320.75.
“Last year, Aimee finished third on one-meter,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “Her silver-medal performance today was a huge improvement.”
Freshman Manny Vazquez Bas qualified for finals as well, squeaking in with a prelim score of 361.70 in the 3-meter. He took the last spot, beating out the second-seeded Anton Down-Jenkins of South Carolina by just 2.6 points. He would end up placing seventh in the finals with a score of 345.00.
“Manny came in clutch on his last dive in the prelim to earn his first SEC Final birth,” said Shaffer. “I am really happy with the results of this young team.”