BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving teams both finished in fifth place this past weekend at the Southeastern Conference Championships. The diving team played a huge role in the Championships for the Tigers as LSU placed at least one diver in each of the diving finals.
“I am extremely proud of the way that we performed at the SEC’s,” said LSU diving coach Scott Reich. “Each and every one of the divers came up big for us last weekend, and I believe that Ashley (Culpepper) was the MVP for our team.”
Culpepper, LSU’s junior diver from Austin, Texas, won the SEC Championship in the platform diving event, and finished tied for sixth place in individual scoring. Culpepper accounted for 51 of the Lady Tigers’ 382 total points. In her three diving events of the Championships, Culpepper placed first, third, and fourth.
In the women’s platform diving event, the Lady Tigers set a new SEC record by placing four divers in the final round of the competition. The four divers were Jamie Watkins, Gretchen Mury, Holly Winters, and Culpepper. Watkins finished third, Mury finished fifth, and Winters finished in seventh place. Culpepper won the event.
Watkins, LSU’s diver from Jacksonville, Fla., finished second, third, and ninth in her three events. In the 1-meter springboard diving event, the sophomore finished in second place, while in the 3-meter competition she placed ninth.
The LSU men divers also held their own at the SEC Championships. Juniors Erik Petursson and Corey Fox each finished better than 12th place in every event. Fox placed third in the platform competition, fourth in the 1-meter springboard, and seventh in the 3-meter event. Petursson finished at No. 7 in both the platform and 1-meter events, and 11th in the 3-meter competition.
“Both Corey and Erik did a great job,” Reich said. “I just hope that they continue to work hard and go all out for the remainder of the season.”
The LSU swimming and diving teams will next be in action February 25-26 as they travel to Auburn, Ala., for the SEC Quadrangular meet.