FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The LSU swimming and diving team delivered a memorable performance in the platform diving competition on Wednesday at the 2002 Southeastern Championships, as LSU captured the top three spots in the event to sit atop the women’s standings after three days of competition.
LSU swept the women’s platform even and earned a fourth-place finish in the men’s platform final. Barb Gorst won the platform competition with a score of 469.45, the best score of her career and the second-best score in LSU history. Holly Winters was second behind Gorst with a score of 435.50, also a personal-best score in her career. Defending SEC platform champion Jamie Watkins, a three-time NCAA All-American, earned a third-place finish with a score of 424.25. On the men’s side, junior Kyle Van Arsdall finished fourth in the platform with a final score of 459.80. Auburn freshman Matt Bricker won the men’s platform with a score of 541.80.
LSU leads Alabama in the women’s standings after Wednesday’s competition by 28 points. The Tigers currently have a score of 162.5, and Alabama is at 134.0. Georgia, last season’s champion, is in sixth. Kentucky leads the men’s with a score of 153.0. LSU is in eighth place with a score of 81.0.
Swimming events began on Wednesday with preliminaries held at noon, and LSU broke more school records during the competition. The team of Lindsey Staak, Mandy Leach, Lauren Harvey and Julie Hughes-Johnson finished fifth in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:42.73, breaking the previous school record of 1:43.44 set in 1997. Auburn won the event with a time of 1:38.87, setting a new Arkansas Natatorium pool record.
LSU’s men’s team of Evan Martinec, Steve Gluck, Matt Jotautas and Matt Rucker placed sixth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:28.27. Florida won the event and set a pool record with a time of 1:26.76. The LSU women finished sixth in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:24.60. Georgia won the relay and set a pool record in the process with a time of 7:06.90. Georgia came close to their SEC record of 7:06.81 that they set last season. The LSU men placed eighth in the 800 free relay with a time of 6:40.37.
“Today was really a great day for us in many areas,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “Our divers just did incredible, and that is the reason that we are leading right now in the women’s.”
Leach’s time of 1:46.94 in the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay broke a 15-year old school record set by Buffy Krieger in 1987. Krieger’s time was 1:47.68. Chris Stanczyk’s time of 138.43 leading off the 800-yard freestyle relay is the fifth-best all-time in LSU history.
“We did a fantastic job of competing here today,” said the two-time All-American Leach. “Everyone did well, both the swimmers and the divers, and that shows that good attitude and hard work will pay off.”
“When you see the divers doing so well it just encourages us (the swimmers) to go out there and do our best as well.”
LSU placed three divers in the top three even without the services of All-American Michelle Coryell, who is nursing a back injury. Coryell was fourth in the platform competition last season at the SEC Championships. Gorst’s victory in the platform marks the third-straight season that an LSU diver has won at the SEC Championships. Ashley Culpepper won the platform in 2000, and Watkins won the one-meter last season.
“Our divers were just in a zone today, they were all awesome,” said head diving coach Scott Reich. “Holly (Winters) and Barb (Gorst) had the meet of their lives. We just didn’t miss a dive today and that is just incredible.”
Reich was named the 2002 SEC Diving Coach of the Year following Wednesday’s action. It is the fourth such honor for Reich in his career, and the third season in a row that he has won the award.
Competition continues on Thursday with the men’s and women’s 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, and 50-yard freestyle events. The Championships wrap up on Saturday with finals at 6:30 p.m.