BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving team hosted its final home meet of the season on Saturday afternoon in a meet versus Louisiana-Monroe, Florida State and Rice at the LSU Natatorium.
Five seniors were recognized prior to the meet. The seniors were Mandy Leach, Jamie Watkins, Dawn Coy, Holly Winters and Steve Gluck. Leach, Watkins and Gluck are each All-Americans.
The LSU men beat Louisiana-Monroe, 182-145, and lost to Florida State, 128-109, to finish the afternoon at 1-1. The Lady Tigers beat Rice, 151-83, and Louisiana-Monroe by a score of 197-36. The only loss suffered on the day for the LSU women was to Florida State, 138-105.
LSU received strong performances from several athletes on Saturday. Watkins won the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 281.00. Barb Gorst, Jessica Wantz and Holly Winters finished third, fourth and eighth for LSU. Watkins also placed third in the 3-meter competition. Wantz finished second behind Florida State’s Tiffany Manning.
Sophomore Stephanie won two events for the sixth time this season, winning both the 1650-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Smith swam the 1650 in a time of 16:42.41 and she swam the 500 in 4:53.88. Smith’s time in the 1650 is a new Natatorium pool record. The previous record was a 16:48.69 by Ashley Tappin in 1991.
Ross Buffington led the men on Saturday, winning both the 1650 and 500 freestyle. Buffington swam the 1650 in 15:42.68 and the 500 in 4:32.48. Leach won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.99 and the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 50.65. In men’s diving action, LSU’s Jace Pitre finished first in the 1-meter competition with a score of 308.30. Kyle Van Ardsall finished third with a score of 272.90.
“Mandy (Leach) had a great meet, and Steve (Gluck) really stepped it up,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “Ross Buffington and all the divers did well, especially Jamie Watkins and Jace (Pitre).”
Freshman Francisco Paez won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:41.15 and LSU’s team of Neil Lowe, Evan Martinec, Gluck and Paez finished first in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:21.15.
“There were some events where we really struggled today,” said Cavana. “When you get swept you cannot score. We are alright where we are, but we need to get back and ready in two weeks for the SEC’s.”
LSU will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Feb. 18-23 for the 2002 SEC Championships. LSU has already competed at the site once, back in the SEC West Quad Meet in October.
Next up for the LSU divers is the All-Star Invitational on Feb. 8-10 at Orlando, Fla. The entire squad will then travel to the SEC Championships in two weeks. The LSU men are now 3-5 on the season, while the women are 7-3.