BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving teams ended the Purple and Gold Intrasquad Meet deadlocked at 210-210 on Friday afternoon in the LSU Natatorium.
“We had some very good races and swims today,” said head coach Jeff Cavana. “Some of the guys and girls almost equaled their all-time best times, and we had a lot of enthusiasm and cheering as a team.”
The meet ended in the third tie of the Purple and Gold Intrasquad Meet’s 12-year existence. The teams finished with identical scores in 1998 at 233, and in 1991 at 205. The Purple team overcame a 17-point deficit in the last four events to keep the Gold team winless since 1995.
Leading the purple team in Friday’s competition were junior Mandy Leach and freshman Ross Buffington. Both captured three first-place finishes in the meet. Leach won the women’s 100, 200, and 500-yard freestyle events by finishing with times of 52.45 in the 100, 1:53.46 in the 200, and 5:00.96 in the 500.
Buffington ended the meet with wins in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events, along with a victory in the 400-yard individual medley competition. His times were 1:42.49 in the 200, 4:37.45 in the 500, and 4:13.26 in the 400-individual medley.
Two other Tiger freshmen came away with key victories in the meet for the Gold team. Evan Martinec blew by the competition in the men’s 200-yard butterfly event with a time of 1:56.15, while Laura Jo Leininger edged out Lindsey Mooney in the women’s 200-butterfly. Leininger finished in 2:10.05 compared to Mooney’s 2:10.26.
“These freshmen are going to be big-league performers for this team for a lot of years to come,” Cavana said. “They are all great athletes and will not only help this team in the future but this year as well.”
The Tigers’ senior and team captain, Ken “Buzz” Kuhn, helped the Gold team take an early lead with wins in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle competitions. He posted a time of 20.70 in the 50 and a time of 46.00 in the 100.
The score was tied at 193 going into the final two 400-yard freestyle relay competitions. The Purple team finished first and third in the women’s relay to take a 206-197 lead going into the final race. In the men’s 400-freestyle relay, the Gold team placed first and third to end the meet in a deadlock at 210 points apiece.
The LSU swimming and diving teams will next be in action at 5 p.m. Friday, October 20, at home in the LSU Natatorium. The women will face both Houston and Wright State, while the men will challenge Wright State.