DALLAS, Texas – – The LSU men’s swimming and diving team finished in fifth place Saturday at the Dallas Morning News Classic which took place on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
The host SMU Mustangs ended up winning the competition with 337 total team points, while the Tigers concluded with 256. LSU was five points shy of finishing in the fourth spot, but Florida State barely edged the Tigers with a score of 260.
“We just came up short today,” said head coach Rick Meador. “Our guys gave it 110%, but we didn’t have enough to win. The competition at this event was unreal. Each one of these teams will finish the season ranked in the top-30, and there are a lot of athletes here who are of national championship caliber.”
Highlighting the day for the Tigers was junior diver Corey Fox’s performance in the 3-meter diving competition. he placed second with an impressive score of 295.75. Winning the event was Nebraska’s Erik Cook who compiled 299.90 points off of the board.
LSU’S team captain Ken Kuhn finished in the top-3 for the second time this weekend as he swam his way to third-place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.25. Kuhn finished second in the 50-free on Friday.
“Even though we didn’t win this weekend,” said Meador. “The experience that our guys gained by going up against some better competition will definitely help us later on in the season. Right now we just have to concentrate on winning our dual-meets.”
The University of Nebraska took home second-place honors by scoring 331 total team points during the competition, while Texas A&M finished third with 276. Finishing in last was Arizona State whose swimmers and divers ended the Dallas Morning News Classic with 213 points.
LSU will next be in action Friday, January 21 in Lexington where they will take on the Kentucky Wildcats in the Tigers second SEC meet of the season.