After enduring a winless start to the spring dual meet competitions, the LSU swimming and diving teams took advantage of their last two dual meets Friday and Saturday and swept their competition at the LSU Natatorium.
“I think it’s [team’s performance] a reflection of all the hard work and determination they put in all season starting to come to fruition,” coach Adam Schmitt said. “They are starting to believe in the program and the system.”
On Friday, the women’s swimming and diving teams defeated the Rice Owls 61-50 and beat the Houston Cougars 82-31. They also recorded several personal-best times.
The Lady Tigers wasted little time and won the first event of the meet, the 400-yard medley relay, with their “A” team of Lindsay Staak, Lauren Harvey, Heather Brand, and Colleen Bertirotti. Harvey also placed second in both the 200 breaststroke and freestyle events.
On her way to second place, Clare Schepens recorded the fastest time of her career (10:22.67) in the 1000 freestyle.
Mallory Neltner took first-place honors in the 200 backstroke with a lifetime-best mark of 2:06.07, while Staak came in second with a time of 2:06.10.
Schmitt said Neltner’s performance was the turning point of the meet.
Two more personal-best marks were set by Bertirotti who swam times of 23.36 in the 50 freestyle and 51.79 in the 100 freestyle, both being first place victories.
Brand swam to second with a career-best mark of 2:06.04 in the 200 butterfly, and teammate Hannah Martin placed second in the 500 freestyle.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the “A” team of Staak, Brand, Neltner, and Bethany Cottingham place second with a time of 3:31.55.
Prior to the meet, diver Jessica Wantz won eight consecutive events and increased her streak to 10 with victories in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions.
“It was a nice opportunity we put together as a team this afternoon,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “We are happy with the results, and Jessica continues to score well, even though she has not peaked yet.”
On Saturday’s Senior Day, the Tigers hosted and competed in their final dual meet of the season. The men’s and women’s teams swept both the Delta State Statesmen and the UL-Monroe Indians in front of the largest crowd (275) in LSU Natatorium history.
Prior to the meet, 15 Tiger seniors were honored and joined by their family in a special ceremony.
“It was great to have such a large senior class that had the LSU tradition,” Schmitt said.
The women seniors honored were Wantz, Cottingham, Harvey, Staak, Margaret Beadle, Margot Gathings, Alice Hardesty, and Margaret Anne Moore.
The men seniors recognized were Justin Boyes, Leon Cannizzaro, Christian Clausen, Ryan Cochran, Myles Jaynes, Jan Minartz, and Jared Strecker.
The men triumphed 95-41 over the Statesmen and 81-53 over the Indians, while the women beat the Lady Statesmen 92-42 and defeated the Lady Indians 92-28.
The Tigers got off to an early lead by winning the first five events and won 23 of the overall 32 events.
In the 200 medley relay, the women’s “A” team of Staak, Harvey, Brand and Bertirotti placed first and posted an LSU Natatorium record time of 1:42.72 which ranked as the 13th-fastest time in the nation and was the third-fastest in the Southeastern Conference this season.
Hannah Martin won first in the women’s 1000 freestyle (10:32.28), and Jaynes took first place honors in the men’s competition (9:33.24).
Bertirotti captured two first place victories in the women’s 100 and 200 freestyle events with times of 51.94 and 1:54.92. In the men’s 50 and 100 freestyle events, Miko Malberg earned first-place honors with times of 20.27 and 45.64.
Brand took first-place honors in the women’s 50 freestyle (23.54) followed by Cottingham (24.14).
In the men’s 100 and 200 backstroke, Kevin Braud finished with first-place times of 49.68 and 1:46.94. Staak touched the wall first in the women’s 100-yard backstroke (57.46), while Neltner took first in the 200-yard backstroke (205.44).
Clausen swam winning times of 56.78 and 2:05.62 in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke for the men, while Harvey won both for the women with times of 1:03.76 in the 100 and 2:19.62 in the 200.
The Tigers also swept both the 200 butterfly events. Gathings swam a time of 2:05.55 for the women, and Cochran took victory for the men with a time of 1:51.74.
The men’s and women’s 1-meter and 3-meter diving events were also swept by the Tigers. Wantz extended her winning streak to 12 events with scores of 281.95 in the 1-meter and 314.75 in the 3-meter. Niko Dalman won both the men’s events with scores of 311.20 in the 1-meter and 318.60 in the 3-meter.