Strong performances by multiple swimmers and divers lead to the Lady Tigers’ second-straight victory against top-30 competition
Despite trailing to start the meet, the Lady Tigers rallied, took the lead, and never gave it back as they defeated No. 29 Florida State 168-132. The men’s team performed great too but fell just milliseconds short of a victory against No. 14 Florida St. with a score of 151-147.
The women’s team trailed by as many as 20 points to start the meet. But within a stretch that included five gold medals in just six events, they took the lead and never trailed again. The event where they took the lead was a huge one, as during the 50 Yard Free, Natalie Kucsan, Katarina Milutinovich, and Olivia Taylor took the top three spots.
The Lady Tigers ended the meet with a total of nine gold medals including seven by the swim team. The swimmers Helen Grossman and Cassie Kalisz each won two golds, and Katarina Milutinovich, Natalie Kucsan and Summer Stanfield each earned one.
“It’s what we knew this women’s team was capable of doing,” said head swim coach Dave Keyer after the victory. “There’s talent in all classes… [from] the senior class, all the way down to the freshman class.”
On the diving side, Aimee Wilson dominated her events, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events. This was even more impressive being that she had just come back from a shoulder injury.
“[This] is my first-time back competing since Christmas, so it was really nice to have it all come together.” said Wilson regarding the victories.
The men’s diving team added another gold, as Manny Vasquez Bas won the 3-meter with a personal best of 403.20. The diving team totaled three victories out of the four events.
Their coach, Doug Shaffer, stated that “[seeing] us win three of the four events, hit two personal bests, and sweep the women’s three-meter at this point in January [was] exactly what” he wanted to see.
The men’s swim team had a shot to win up until the very end and every millisecond mattered. Even with the loss, the men still had strong performances that included five individual and two relay victories. Karl Luht swept both backstroke events, Lewis Clough swept both butterfly events, Brooks Curry had an individual victory in the 200-free, and they won both the 200 and 400 free relay events.
“[With] Missouri and Florida State, we’ve gone toe-to-toe against two top 15 programs,” said Coach Geyer. “That’s nothing to hang our heads with.”
The Tigers face Texas A&M at 11:00 AM CT for Senior Day at the LSU Natatorium.
