KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The LSU swimming and diving team beat Southeastern Conference rivals Kentucky and host Tennessee Friday in its first road meet of the season to improve to 3-0.
The Tigers won three of four meets Friday in Knoxville. The LSU women beat both Tennessee and Kentucky, and the men beat Kentucky.
LSU’s men defeated Kentucky,136-105, and the women beat both Tennessee, 164.50-82.50, and Kentucky, 140.50-102.50. LSU suffered only one loss in the meet, with the men falling to Tennessee, 131-104. The wins were monumental for the Lady Tigers, as they were previously 0-7 against Tennessee and had not competed against them since 1991.
“The wins today were breakthrough wins for our women’s program”, said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “We had never beat them and this is really sweet revenge.”
The one loss suffered by LSU Friday was to the Tennessee men, who are nationally-ranked. The Vols men also defeated Kentucky, 124-113, and the women from Tennessee beat Kentucky’s women, 143-100.
“We really wanted to beat Kentucky’s men, because they have really had success against us lately.”
Lady Tiger sophomore Stephanie Smith won two events on Friday. Smith won the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Smith won the 1000 with a time of 10:06.88, and the 500 in a time of 4:58.37. Smith won four events last weekend in meets in Baton Rouge versus Houston and Arkansas.
Mandy Leach won the 200-yard freestyle for LSU with a time of 1:52.39, and also won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.25. Leach also teamed with Lindsay Staak, Dawn Coy and Lauren Ostroski to win the 400-yard medley relay. Margot Gathings won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.15. Gathings also finished second in the 200-yard butterfly. Staak, a freshman, won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.59.
On the men’s side, Myles Jaynes won the 500-yard freestyle with a score of 4:38.10. Myles finished second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:32.91. Tennessee and Kentucky split wins in the diving competitions, the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions.
In Baton Rouge last weekend the Tigers defeated both Houston and Arkansas to improve to 2-0 on the season. LSU won 24 of 29 events in the two meets.
“We benefited from a good mix of young and old today. We just have great chemistry and a lot of unity on this team. It is fun to be around these athletes.”
LSU will travel to Dayton, Ohio on Saturday to face Wright St. at noon.