LSU swim and dive returned from the 2026 SEC swim and diving championships with some extra hardware — seven total medals: three bronze, two silver, and two gold.

The women’s team took home fifth place overall, behind a total of 668.5 points, and the men placed seventh, totaling 614 points.

The exciting week at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, saw new records and multiple top-five finishes for the Tigers.

Day 1 was light for LSU, featuring only one event for senior Carson Paul in the men’s 1-meter dive. Paul found a sixth-place finish following a score of 347.20 in the final to earn the first 24 points for the men’s team.

Momentum built quickly in the relays on Day 2, where a 1:34.71 swim in the women’s 200-yard medley relay saw a fourth-place finish and a new school record, while the men claimed LSU’s first medal with a bronze finish and 54 points.

Looking to climb the standings on Day 3, LSU earned its second medal of the week as Zoe Carlos-Broc took third in the women’s 100-yard backstroke. The sophomore recorded 27 points after her personal-best time of 51.14, which also set a program record. Michaela De Villiers added 15 points from her 11th-place finish.

Wednesday also saw the Tigers swimming in the men’s 100-yard backstroke, the 200-yard butterfly and the 100-yard breaststroke. Top 10 finishes for Tigers across these events included Sofia Sartori in fifth and Martina Bukvic in seventh, while Levi Thome and Volodymyr posted swims under 52 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke.

On the diving platform, Paul found a fourth-place finish behind a score of 403.45 in the men’s 3-meter dive for 26 points to help move the men’s team to fifth overall at 282 points, while the women’s team climbed to sixth with 248 total points.

Day 4 saw three swims in the women’s 100-yard butterfly earn a combined total of 36.5 points for the team’s overall; however, the competition heated up in the women’s 200-yard freestyle.

After setting a new school record in the prelims, senior Megan Barnes found an even better time of 1:43.26 to break it once again with a sixth-place finish in the final and added 24 points to the standings.

Not long after, a second-place finish from Jere Hribar earned LSU its first silver medal of the week with a time of 1:31.65 for 28 points in the men’s 200-yard freestyle.

This energy kept high for the Tigers as they took on their last event of the day, the 400-yard medley relay, where the men’s team took seventh for 46 points, and the women’s team set a new program record in fifth for 50 points.

LSU opened Friday morning with strong swims in the 200-yard breaststroke. Grace Palmer and Bukvic finished in under 2:10 to earn fourth and fifth, while a breakthrough for Guilherme Camossato saw a new program record in seventh place.

The women’s team added top-10 finishes from De Villiers and Avery Littlefield in the 50-yard freestyle; however, the men’s team stole the spotlight as Hribar found a personal best of 18.57 for a third-place finish and his fourth medal of the championship.

The day’s final event had included a fourth-place finish for the women’s team in the 200-yard freestyle relay, while the men’s relay squad that included Diggory Dillingham, Hribar, Goncharov and Simon Meubry set a new program record and earned the Tigers their second silver medal of the tournament.

Barnes added another program record time in the 500-yard freestyle with a ninth-place finish before Paul headlined the men’s platform final. His score of 448.70 not only secured 32 points but also earned both his second career championship medal and LSU’s first gold of the tournament.

Additional points across all events in both the bonus and consolation finals pushed the women’s team up to fifth place with 533.5 points, while the men took sixth with 525 points heading into Saturday, the final day of competition.

The women totaled 68 points in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard freestyle, highlighted by a fourth-place finish from De Villiers in the latter.

Additionally, the men’s team surged early as Hribar took first in the 100-yard freestyle with an SEC championship record time of 40.42 to take home his fifth medal and LSU’s second gold.

Points in the 200-yard backstroke from a pair of fourth-place finishes, as well as one last program-record time for the men in the 400-yard freestyle relay, capped off the day for the Tigers.

In the end, the LSU women’s team finished fifth overall, with the men’s team following in seventh.

Returning home after a successful week packed with new records, LSU will next send athletes to the James E. Martin Invitational before taking on the NCAA championships.