AUBURN, Ala. — The LSU swimming and diving teams had a record-breaking day on Wednesday, the first day of competition at the 2003 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, being held at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, Ala.
Both of LSU’s 200-yard medley relay teams broke school records, and junior Chris Stanczyk led off the 800-yard freestyle relay, the final men’s event of the evening, with a time of 1:37.03, the second-fastest mark in school history. The men’s 200-medley team of Stanczyk, Evan Martinec, Matt Rucker, and Mike Jotautas placed fourth among eight teams, swimming the event in a time of 1:27.98, breaking the previous record of 1:28.18 set in 2000. Auburn won the relay with a time of 1:26.52.
“Chris (Stanczyk) did a nice job leading off the 800 tonight,” said LSU assistant coach Lars Jorgensen. “He swam the second-best time in school history and a personal-best for him and looked really good.”
Julie Johnson, Lindsay Staak, Cissy Schepens, and Laura Jo Leininger finished the women’s 200 in 1:42.21, breaking the previous mark of 1:42.73 swam at last season’s SEC Championships, a team that included Johnson and Staak. The Lady Tigers finished fifth out of nine teams in the event with host Auburn winning the relay in an SEC-record time of 1:37.69.
Stanczyk teamed with Francisco Paez, Martin Latz, and Jan Minartz to place sixth in the 800-free relay with a time of 6:35.19. Florida won the relay in an SEC-record time of 6:20.14. In the women’s 800-free relay, Leininger, Margaret Beadle, Donna Leslie, and Stephanie Smith finished sixth with a time of 7:28.52 while Auburn won with another SEC-record time of 7:01.00.
“We had some really great individual swims tonight and each of our relay teams did great too,” said LSU assistant coach Amanda Norton. “Margaret Beadle led off the 800-free relay with a personal-best time (1:50.79), and Chris Stanczyk did the same. We are off to a great start on the first day and hope to continue to swim this way.”
Senior Kyle Van Arsdall competed in the day’s first event, the men’s 1-meter diving and placed 12th in the preliminaries, failing to make the finals but will still compete in both the 3-meter and platform competitions on Friday and Saturday. Van Arsdall completed the 1-meter with a score of 265.85. Florida sophomore Zach Wilcox won the event with a score of 345.25.
Sophomore Jessica Wantz made the finals of the women’s 3-meter diving competition and placed seventh with a score of 484.10. Senior Barb Gorst, fifth in the 3-meter a year ago, placed 13th with a score of 435.55. The top eight athletes in each event advance to the finals.
“Well I am real proud of Kyle (Van Arsdall) today because he did some good things,” said LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer. “He has not put it all together yet but he still has some opportunities here in the next few days in both the 3-meter and the platform.”
“Jessica (Wantz) did a great job today, especially considering it was her first time here at the SEC’s,” said Shaffer. “Jessica missed her opportunity last year because she was sick, so for her to come out and be an SEC finalist her first time here is incredible. She was nervous but she held on like an excellent competitor and did a nice job.”
“Barb (Gorst) did a nice job on the 3-meter tonight even though she did not make the finals,” Shaffer said. “She missed one dive which hurt her but she has been focusing a lot on the platform and will get a chance to do well in that competition on Saturday,” Shaffer said.
Gorst is the reigning SEC platform champion, winning the event last year in Fayetteville, Ark., with a score of 469.45. The Lady Tigers program has produced three-straight SEC diving champions.
The men are currently in seventh place with 61 points while the women are sixth with 70. The men placed seventh at last season’s championships while the Lady Tigers finished fifth.
Junior All-American Stephanie Smith highlights Thursday’s action for LSU as she is seeded second in the women’s 500-yard freestyle. Smith finished seventh last season the event.
Thursday’s schedule of begins at 10:30 a.m., and includes the 500- and 50-yard freestyle events, 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle relay, and the women’s 1-meter diving competition. Wantz and Gorst will each compete in the 1-meter with Wantz seeded fifth and Gorst 20th. The competition features 27 divers and will begin at 1:30. Finals for all of Thursday’s events will start at 6:30 p.m.