BATON ROUGE — After falling to the gold team in 2002 for the first time in seven years, the purple team reclaimed its title with a clutch performance in the final two events to win the 15th annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad, 226-212, here Friday afternoon at the LSU Natatorium.
Trailing with only the 400-meter freestyle relays left, the purple squad got outstanding performances from Donna Leslie, Cackey Miltenberger, Margaret Anne Moore and Margaret Beadle on the women’s side and Jan Minartz, Myles Jaynes, Robbie Leininger and Chris Stanczyk on the men’s side to capture both relays and earn 22 points toward their final tally of 226. Both relay teams swam the event in times of 4:08.84 (women) and 3:39.42 (men), respectively.
The purple team was also led by senior All-American Evan Martinec who won two events on the day, the 100-meter butterfly (56.91) and the 100-meter backstroke (1:00.91). Captain Chris Stanczyk was also a double-winner, capturing both the 100-meter freestyle in 54.69 and the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:03.77, nearly four seconds better than his nearest competitor. Myles Jaynes won the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle events with times of 4:15.66 and 8:55.06. Both times were over 15 seconds better than both second-place finishers.
While the gold team came up short, that didn’t stop two-time All-American Stephanie Smith from winning two more events. The senior from Metairie pulled away in a commanding victory in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing the heat in a time of 9:10.30. She would later claim another victory, this time in the 400-meter freestyle with a mark of 4:29.35.
The intrasquad was the first chance for several newcomers to make an immediate impact in competition. Colleen Bertirotti, a freshman from San Antonio, Texas won the 50-meter freestyle over Baton Rouge native Kristin Moon with a time of 28.04. Moon, another freshman standout would go on to finish second in the 100-meter freestyle, falling to the purple team’s Donna Leslie with a time of 1:01.35.
“It was a good chance for the freshmen to give us an indicator where they are at heading into the season opener against Georgia next week,” said assistant coach Amanda Norton. “Both Colleen and Kristin had some of their best times of the summer today.”
Several divers also saw their first action today including Alyson Carylon who won both women’s diving events. The freshman from Kirkland, Wash., was victorious in the 1-meter and 3-meter with scores of 256.10 and 250.75. On the men’s side, Adam Hebert of the gold team won the 1-meter with a mark of 278.20, while freshman Andrew Keane took the honors in the 3-meter with a score of 232.90.
“I was very pleased with our performance out there today,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “I think we are further ahead than a lot of other schools out there because we start our season so early. This is just a preseason meet, so it is supposed to be fun.”
With the end of the intersquad comes the beginning of the regular season and a meet at powerhouse Georgia next Thursday at 4 p.m. The team will then head to Clemson, S.C. for another dual meet the following day at 1 p.m.
“This has given us a good measuring stick for the season,” said associate head coach Lars Jorgensen. “We have gotten a good gauge at what we need to improve on before we face that tough opener against Georgia.”