BATON ROUGE — The LSU diving team along with Ken “Buzz” Kuhn, the Tigers’ senior leader and team co-captain, provided LSU’s only bright spots of the meet on Saturday, as both the Tigers and Lady Tigers were defeated at home in the LSU Natatorium by the Georgia Bulldogs. The Lady Tigers were beaten, 175-111, while the men’s team kept the score a bit closer at 174-120.
“They were better than us today,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “I mean, you don’t get to be the No. 1 ranked team in the nation for nothing. We also just came out flat today. I think that we were probably in awe of going up against the top team in the country.”
The Lady Tigers dropped to a 6-4 overall record and have not recorded a Southeastern Conference victory this season. The LSU women’s team is 0-4 versus SEC opponents. The Tiger men’s squad recorded its third-straight loss against a ranked opponent this year and is currently 5-3 on the season. The LSU men’s team is 1-2 versus conference competition.
Saturday’s meet was LSU’s final home meet of the season and 13 Tiger seniors were honored prior to the contest. Meghan Claney, Ashley Culpepper, Carly Farrell, Kelli Klein, Ashley Marxen, Lindsey Mooney, Shannon O’Neal, Kevin Ayer, Corey Fox, Kuhn, Jeff Maynor, Erik Petursson, and Will Tanner were each recognized for their illustrious careers at LSU.
In Kuhn’s final home meet as a Tiger, he went out with a bang by taking first place in two events. Kuhn dominated both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events. In the 50-yard competition, he finished in 20.65, while in the 100-freestyle Kuhn finished ahead of Georgia’s Chris Murray by recording a time of 45.36.
“Buzz (Kuhn) definitely had a great meet today,” Cavana said. “It was his last time performing here of front of this crowd, and I guess he wanted to leave them with good memories. We’re going to miss him. He is a big-time swimmer, a great leader, and just an all-around good guy.”
The LSU diving team proved why it’s among the top-five programs in the nation of Saturday, as both the men and women won each event. The Lady Tigers’ Jaime Watkins swept both the one and three-meter springboard competitions, while Petursson did the same on the men’s side.
In the process, Watkins shattered two previous LSU Natatorium pool records, and Petursson set one of his own. Watkins broke Alison Maisch’s 13-year record of 291.10 in the one-meter competition with a score of 297.00, and topped Kim Dornburg’s mark of 312.00 in the 3-meter by scoring a grand total of 320.02 points. Dornburg’s previous top score was set on Dec. 17, 1998.
Petursson, in the final home meet of his stellar collegiate career, set the LSU Natatorium’s top score in the one-meter diving competition. He outscored Jeff Reinholtz’s 13-year old pool record of 326.10 by recording a score of 341.92 in Saturday’s competition. Petursson didn’t stop there. He also posted the best score of the day in the three-meter event with a total of 338.02 points.
LSU’s other senior divers, Culpepper and Fox, also finished off their senior seasons at home with solid performances. Culpepper placed second in each of the springboard events by recording a score of 278.85 in the 1-meter and a score of 305.11 in the 3-meter competition, while Fox finished third in the 3-meter event and fourth in the 1-meter.
“I’m going to miss each and every one of these seniors with all my heart,” stated Cavana. “They each represent so much of this team, and it’s going to be extremely hard to bid them farewell at the end of this season.”
The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will next be in action on February 2, as they travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for a dual meet versus Florida A&M. The LSU diving team will be hosting the Cajun Diving Classic in the LSU Natatorium on the weekend of Jan. 27-28.