CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The LSU swimming teams wrapped up the first half of the 2003-04 season this weekend at the 18th-annual Nike Cup Invitational held at the Koury Natatorium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The LSU women finished fifth out of 10 teams posting 281 points, just ahead of SEC foe Kentucky. Host North Carolina won the women’s meet with 884 points, followed by Michigan, Clemson and Virginia Tech. Tennessee ran away with the competition in the men’s meet, tallying 971 points to end North Carolina’s five-year reign of Nike Cup championships. The LSU men finished seventh with 241 points.
Junior Lindsay Staak won the 200-yard backstroke consolation final, touching the wall ahead of Kentucky’s Jamie Saxe at 2:04.36. Fellow teammate Lauren Harvey earned 14 points for LSU when she won the 200-yard breaststroke final in 2:18.53. Margot Gathings finished third in the finals of the 200-yard butterfly, improving .15 seconds from her preliminary round with a time of 2:04.43. Donna Leslie was also a third-place finisher, placing just behind North Carolina State’s Rebecca Perry and North Carolina’s Virginia Hanson in the 100-yard freestyle finals (51.61).
LSU took third in the lone women’s relay event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle. Lauren Harvey, Margaret Beadle, Colleen Bertirotti and Donna Leslie swam the event in 3:27.44, earning 32 points to their final total of 281. The Lady Tigers “B” team of Bethany Cottingham, Heather Brand, Emily Johns and Megan Wolters finished 20th in 3:36.57.
Three Lady Tigers qualified for the finals of the 1650-yard freestyle. Sophomore Jenna Molinski was the highest finisher for LSU in the event, placing 21st with a time of 17:27.90. Alice Hardesty and Hannah Martin finished 26th (17:33.52) and 27th (17.34.87), respectively.
On the men’s side, LSU’s “A” relay team of Ross Hebert, Jan Minartz, Neil Lowe and Chris Stanczyk placed third in the 400-yard freestyle (3:01.82). Minartz also swam in three other events on the day. The junior qualified for the finals of the 1650-yard freestyle and finished sixth with a mark of 15:46.94. Minartz returned to the pool in the consolation final of the 100-yard freestyle, earning third-place honors in 45.93. He finished the day earning 47 points to the Tigers’ final total of 241.
Myles Jaynes and Mark Sisk also qualified for the 1650-yard freestyle. Jaynes took ninth (15:53.88), while Sisk finished 16th (16:07.02). Tennessee’s Bradley Boswell won the event with a time of 15:22.56. Senior captain Chris Stanczyk bested Minartz’s performance in the 100-yard freestyle finishing fifth in the finals of the event, touching at 45.75.
LSU will break for the semester and the holidays and then resume its season on Jan. 17, hosting Louisiana-Monroe in a dual-meet at the LSU Natatorium.
2003 Nike Cup Invitational — Nov. 22, 2003
Maurice J. Koury Natatorium — Chapel Hill, N.C.
Women’s Final Team Scores
1. North Carolina 884
2. Michigan 748
3. Clemson 521
4. Virginia Tech 417
5. LSU 281
6. Kentucky 280
7. Syracuse 239
8. East Carolina 200
9. NC State 176
10. Kenyon 129
Men’s Final Team Scores
1. Tennessee 971
2. North Carolina 595
3. Clemson 545
4. Virginia Tech 494
5. Kentucky 419
6. Syracuse 287
7. LSU 241
8. Kenyon 135
9. NC State 119
10. East Carolina 69