EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — LSU’s talented senior diver, Ashley Culpepper, closed out her illustrious Lady Tiger career on Saturday, as she finished second in the 10-meter platform competition here at the 2001 NCAA Championships in East Meadow, N.Y.
“All of our divers dove really well today,” said LSU head diving coach Scott Reich. “Ashley did a fantastic job and placed second in the platform, but it was kind of a mixed feeling for us, because we all knew that it was her final competition as a Lady Tiger. She has had a great career for us and we are going to miss her tremendously.”
In the Nassau Aquatic Center, Culpepper accumulated 453.45 total points in Saturday’s platform competition to earn the second-place finish in the event. She was edged out of the championship spot by Stanford’s Erin Sones who finished with a score of 463.05.
The LSU women’s swimming and diving team closed out the 2000-01 season on Saturday as the 17th-ranked team in the nation by accumulating 67 total-team points in the NCAA Championships. LSU recorded its 19th top-25 finish of the program’s 20 seasons of existence, including the team’s second-straight top-20 finish. Last season, the Lady Tigers finished as the 16th-ranked team in the nation.
“These past-two days were huge for us,” said LSU head swimming coach Jeff Cavana. “We started off slowly in the opening day of competition, but then finishing at No. 17 after being No. 32 after day one is an awesome comeback. I’m extremely proud of all four of these women and they did an outstanding job this weekend.”
Michelle Coryell, the Lady Tigers’ sophomore diver and former walk-on, earned a fourth-place finish in the platform event by compiling a final score of 433.70. LSU joined Stanford in the competition as the only two schools with a pair of divers in the final round of the event. The Lady Tigers’ Jamie Watkins fell just short of the final round in the platform, but ended up in 15th place.
“Michelle did a tremendous job in the platform competition today,” Reich said. “She is a phenomenal diver, she has a great work ethic, and it shows in how she came to LSU as a walk-on diver and now she is the fourth-best platform diver in the nation. I’m proud of all of the divers and I look forward to returning to the championships again next season.”
The Lady Tigers’ Mandy Leach set an all-time LSU record on Saturday in the 100-yard freestyle event. In the preliminary round of the competition, Leach shattered Heather Hageman’s 10-year school record of 50.25 by earning a time of 49.68 in the event. Leach decided to out-do herself in the finals of the 100-freestyle competition, as she broke her own record by recording a time of 49.65. The record-breaking time was fast enough to earn Leach a 10th-place finish in the event.
The 17th-ranked LSU swimming team concluded its 2000-01 season on Saturday, while the Lady Tiger divers will compete for a berth in the United States Diving Championships on April 6-8, at the U.S. Diving Zones in Austin, Texas.