BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Margaret Beadle, a freshman from University High School, led the Purple team to a 233-210 victory over the Gold team on Friday in the 13th-annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad Meet.
“We looked a lot better today than we did a year ago,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “Even though this meet was three weeks earlier than it usually is, I think that we had some girls and guys turn in some pretty amazing performances today. I was extremely impressed with our freshmen and newcomers.”
Beadle finished first in both of her individual events on Friday. In the 200-yard freestyle competition, the home-grown freshman placed first with a time of 1:54.10. Sophomore Donna Leslie earned second place by finishing in 1:55.72. Beadle’s second victory came in the 100-yard freestyle event where she swam an astounding time of 53.87. With the victory, the Purple team extended its undefeated streak to six-straight meets.
The Gold squad’s last win came in 1995 under the leadership of former Tiger great Sean Keenan. Last season, the teams finished the Purple and Gold Intrasquad Meet in a 210-210 standstill.
LSU’s Francisco Paez, a highly-touted freshman from Valencia, Venezuela, kept the Gold team in the meet on Friday by finishing first in two events. The 2000 Olympian earned victories in both the 100 and 200-freestyle competitions. Paez finished with a time of 46.68 in the 100 and a mark of 1:42.11 in the 200.
“We have a lot more quality athletes on this year’s team,” Cavana said. “That includes a greater number of elite athletes, and that will be very beneficial for us later on the year. Right now it’s great to see a couple-dozen female swimmers out there instead of the 12 that we had last season. Depth is a major factor in swimming and it will help us immensely.”
The Purple team also benefitted from an outstanding performance from sophomore Stephanie Smith. The long-distance swimmer from John Curtis High School notched victories in both the 1650 and the 500-yard freestyle events. She finished with a time of 4:58.79 in the 500 and a 17:10 mark in the 1650.
Junior Dennis Rowe accomplished the same feat on Friday. The Purple team’s star long-distance swimmer dominated the men’s side of the competition where he won both the 1650-freestyle, 16:20.99, and the 500-freestyle, 4:47.99.
In the men’s 200-yard individual medley event, the Purple team’s Steve Gluck recorded the fastest time of the day with a swim of 1:59.55. The senior from Ontario, Canada, then finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 58.03. Friday’s diving competition was highlighted by four different winners.
On the women’s side, All-American’s Michelle Coryell and Jaime Watkins split the one and three-meter events. Coryell took first place in the one-meter, while Watkins earned the victory in the three-meter competition.
Junior transfer Jace Pitre dominated the men’s one-meter diving event after Kyle VanArsdall finished first in the three-meter.
“I think that our divers did a pretty good job today,” said LSU diving coach Scott Reich. “It’s still too early for any dual meets. They were doing some dives out there that they haven’t even practiced yet. So, it’s still too hard to tell to much, but I was pleased with how they looked. I was pretty happy.”
The LSU women’s swimming and diving team will next be in action on Oct. 12, as the Lady Tigers host the Houston Cougars at 3 p.m. in the LSU Natatorium. The men will return to action on Oct. 19, against both Tennessee and Kentucky on the road in Knoxville, Tenn.