BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving teams dropped a pair of decisions to 14th-ranked Texas A&M Friday afternoon at the LSU Natatorium.
The Aggie men improved to a perfect 6-0 on the road, defeating the Tigers 181-119, while the LSU women fell by the score of 156-132. Despite taking four out of the first six events, the Tigers struggled down the stretch as Texas A&M managed to capture six out of the last 10 events, including three first and second place finishes.
“Texas A&M is a pretty good team,” said LSU associate head coach Lars Jorgensen. “They really have no weaknesses and you have to give credit to them.”
The LSU men started things off on a positive note when the Tigers’ 200-yard medley relay team of Evan Martinec, Christian Clausen, Neil Lowe and Ross Hebert posted the fastest time of the season, 1:30.44, to win the event over Texas A&M’s “A” squad.
Jan Minartz continued his impressive season by winning two more events on Friday. The junior shattered his career-best time in the 1000-yard freestyle, winning by a mark of 9:24.54. The time was the fastest by any Tiger swimmer all season. Minartz would later return to the pool in the 500- yard freestyle. He would not disappoint, holding off Texas A&M’s Joel Travnicek to win the event in a time of 4:35.80.
Evan Martinec certainly proved that he was back in form after rejoining the team a few weeks ago. After being a part of the 200-yard medley relay team, Martinec set an LSU Natatorium pool record in the 100-yard backstroke. The senior coasted to a win in the event with a time of 48.07. He would also take first-place honors in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.14.
Chris Stanczyk earned his first NCAA “B-cut” qualifying time of the season in the 200-yard freestyle. His time of 1:38.86 earned him a first-place finish on the day.
“The guys really swam well today, and I am proud of them,” said Jorgensen. “Chris (Stanczyk) has a terrific shot at making the NCAA’s. If he just does the job in practice, he will qualify for the NCAA Championships.”
Senior Stephanie Smith was also a double-winner on the day. The All-American coasted to a first-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:03.57. She would later win the 500-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 4:56.32.
Hali Saucier and Alyson Carlyon added 13 points to the Lady Tigers’ final tally by placing first and second in the 3-meter diving event. Saucier scored a mark of 272.32, while Carlyon finished with a score of 256.95.
LSU returns to action Friday, Jan. 30 when the Lady Tiger women host Rice at 4 p.m. The following day, Saturday, Jan. 31, both squads take on Florida State at noon.
Click here for the complete results.