BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams lost to Texas A&M in a dual-meet on Friday afternoon at the LSU Natatorium.
Both the LSU men and women lost to Texas A&M, with the men losing, 141-89, and the women coming up on the short end, 154-145. The meet came down to the final event on the women’s side, with the team’s tied at 141 prior to the 400-yard freestyle relay. Texas A&M’s team of Dannielle Townsend, Michelle Bird, Sarah Yates, and Laura DeCook edged LSU’s team by 39 seconds to claim the victory.
The meet featured 29 events, including the 1000-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and both 1- and 3-meter diving competitions. The Tigers swept the diving competition, with Lady Tiger Jamie Watkins winning the 1-meter competition, and Jace Pitre and Kyle VanArdsall placing first and second in the men’s 1-meter and 3-meter competitions. Texas A&M did not have any diver compete on the men’s side in the meet.
Watkins placed second in the 3-meter behind teammate Barb Gorst, who won the event with a score of 321.38. Sophomore Stephanie Smith continued her outstanding season by winning both the 1000 and 500-yard freestyle events, and finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle behind teammate Mandy Leach. Smith swam the 1000 in a time of 10:03.20, and the 500 in a time of 4:56.12. Leach won three events for the Lady Tigers on Friday, winning the 100 and 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. Leach’s time of 55.24 in the 100 fly is a new LSU Natatorium and school record. The previous LSU record was a 53.49 set by Leach last season. The pool record was a 55.44 set by Shelly Ripple in 1998.
On the men’s side for LSU, sophomore Ross Buffington won the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:34.07. Chris Stanczyk placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with Francisco Paez finishing fourth and Buffington fifth.
The Tigers scored remarkably well in the diving competitions in the meet despite not having junior All-American Michelle Coryell who is nursing an injury.
?It was exciting today because the girls especially did real well,? said diving coach Scott Reich. ?We have been training real hard lately and not worrying about competition.
?Our men are up and coming, they have a lot of work to do to get in the higher echelon, but I think they are capable of it. It all starts with a good work ethic and a good attitude, and if we have that then we will have a great end of the year.?
LSU returns to action on Feb. 2 when they host three teams at the LSU Natatorium. The noon meet will feature Florida State, UL-Monroe, and Rice’s women will face the Lady Tigers.