BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s swimming and diving team was credited with a seventh-place finish at the 2002 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships held on Feb. 18-23 at Fayetteville, Ark., due to the participation of an ineligible athlete on the South Carolina squad.
LSU originally finished eighth in the standings with a score of 174.5. South Carolina finished fifth with a score of 339. As a result of this occurrence, South Carolina dropped to eight overall, with a deduction of 180 points, and the Gamecocks finished with 159 points after the penalty. The top four spots remain the same, with Auburn in first, Florida coming in second, Georgia in third, and Tennessee finishing fourth.
Feb. 24 Scoring
1. Auburn 763
2. Florida 744
3. Georgia 522.5
4. Tennessee 476
5. South Carolina 339
6. Alabama 314
7. Kentucky 282
8. LSU 174.5
REVISED TEAM SCORING
1. Auburn 763
2. Florida 744
3. Georgia 522.5
4. Tennessee 476
5. Alabama 314
6. Kentucky 282
7. LSU 174.5
8. South Carolina 159
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The LSU swimming and diving team wrapped up competition at the 2002 Southeastern Conference Championships on Saturday evening at the Arkansas Natatorium in Fayetteville with the men finishing eighth and the women fifth.
Florida won the women’s championship with a final score of 742.5. The Lady Tigers, leaders at the Championships after Wednesday’s competition, finished with a score of 312.0. Auburn won the men’s title for the second consecutive year.
Senior and two-time NCAA All-American Mandy Leach swam the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 49.83, finishing fifth and making the “B” Cut of the 2001 NCAA Qualifying Standards. Georgia junior Maritza Corriea set an SEC record by winning the event with a time of 48.29. The time is a season-best for Leach and a new career-best mark. She previously swam the event in 49.65 at the 2001 NCAA Championships.
Senior All-American Steve Gluck placed 16th in the consolation final of the 200-yard breaststroke competition with a time of 2:14.20. Georgia’s Kyle Salyards won the event with a time of 1:56.72, a new pool record. LSU did not advance to the finals in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Stephanie Smith finished seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle, with a time of 16:38.41. Florida’s Sara McLarty finished first with a time of 16:12.20. Alice Hardesty placed 22nd for LSU with a time of 17:31.08.
Ross Buffington, LSU’s record-holder in the 1650-free, finished 11th in the event on Saturday with a time of 15:45.50. Myles Jaynes placed 15th with a time of 15:50.39 and Jan Minartz finished 18th with a time of 16:13.72. Cindy Martinez finished 16th in the 200-yard backstroke consolation final in a time of 2:05.97. The Tigers did not make the final in the men’s 200-yard backstroke.
Sophomore Laura Jo Leininger placed 16th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.86. LSU failed to final in the men’s side of the 200 fly competition. Chris Stanczyk placed 13th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.06. LSU’s team of Julie Hughes-Johnson, Donna Leslie, Mandy Leach and Dawn Coy placed seventh in the 400-yard freestyle relay, finishing the race with a time of 3:25.02. Georgia set an SEC record and a pool record with a time of 3:15.20 to win the event. Francisco Paez, Matt Rucker, Martin Latz and Reed Robelot teamed finish seventh in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:03.80.
The LSU women’s swimmers will travel to the Texas Invitational on March 1-2 at Austin, Texas.