COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Senior Jessica Wantz picked up her first victory of the season, winning the 1-meter diving competition to highlight day one for the LSU swimming and diving team at the Texas A&M Invitational.
The LSU women sit in fourth place with 117 points, while the Tigers also held the No. 4 spot with 173 points going into Saturday morning’s preliminaries. The No. 7 SMU women are atop the leaderboard with 443 points, just ahead of ninth-ranked Texas A&M. The host Aggies hold the top spot in the men’s competition with 432 points.
Wantz, a native of Houston, Texas, won convincingly in the 1-meter with a score of 267.00 in the finals after posting a mark of 247.45 in the prelims. Texas A&M’s Mari Musselman was the next closest competitor, finishing with a score of 244.80.
In individual events, Justin Boyes qualified for the finals of the 200 individual medley and placed fifth with a time of 1:55.25.
Freshman Miko Malberg made an immediate impact in just his second official competition by qualifying for the finals of the 50 freestyle. The sprinter swam a time of 20.88 in the finals to place fifth.
In men’s 3-meter diving, freshman Niko Dalman was the Tigers highest finisher, taking fourth-place honors with a score of 463.20 in the finals. Adam Hebert and Andrew Keane finished fifth an sixth, respectively.
Four relays took place on day one, and LSU’s highest finish came in the men’s 200 freestyle relay. The Tigers’ team of Miko Malberg, Eddie Kenney, Jeffrey Vivo and Jared Strecker swam a time of 1:25.29 to place fifth and earn 28 points to the final tally.
Saturday’s competition will get underway with prelims at 10 a.m., followed by a finals session at 6 p.m. The 400 IM is slated to start the schedule.
TEXAS A&M INVITATIONAL — COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
TEAM STANDINGS (AFTER DAY ONE):
WOMEN
1. SMU 443
2. Texas A&M 379
3. Arkansas 137
4. LSU 117
MEN
1. Texas A&M 432
2. SMU 305
3. UL-Monroe 207
4. LSU 173