BATON ROUGE — Super Tiger Weekend got off to an impressive start as the LSU women’s swimming and diving team used six personal-best swims to roll past Rice and Houston in a non-conference double-dual meet at the LSU Natatorium on Friday.
The Lady Tigers held off the Owls by a score of 61-50 and earned a sweep by handily defeating the visiting Cougars, 82-31.
“All this week we focused our teaching on the mentality of winning,” said an elated head coach Adam Schmitt. “I think the light is starting to come on, and we are learning how to win. We have pushed this team really hard while facing top quality opponents. They are starting to believe in each other.”
LSU relied on six individual victories, including a one-two finish in the 200 backstroke to change the complexion of the meet. Freshman Mallory Neltner delivered a lifetime-best clocking of 2:06.07 to win the 200 back, while senior Lindsay Staak touched the wall right behind Neltner with a time of 2:06.10.
“It was certainly the turning point of the meet,” said Schmitt. “Mallory really looked well in warm-ups and had the demeanor, so we went with her in the event.”
Neltner was one of five Lady Tigers to notch personal-best marks on the day. Sophomore Colleen Bertirotti shattered her career-best mark in the 50 freestyle with a victorious clocking of 23.63. She swam her previous-best time of 23.64 at the 2004 SEC Championships. The San Antonio, Texas native would later collect another personal-best time to win the 100 free (51.79).
In the past three meets, freshman Clare Schepens has posted several top times. On Friday, Schepens swam the fastest time of her career in the 1000 free at 10:22.67. Senior Lauren Harvey, competing in the second-to-last home meet of her career, placed second in the 200 freestyle with an excellent swim of 1:52.39.
Heather Brand posted her personal-best time in the 200 butterfly to finish second (2:06.04), and Hannah Martin also earned a runner-up showing by taking second-place in the 500 free with a time of 5:05.45.
LSU captured the 400 medley relay at the meet’s start when Staak, Harvey, Brand and Bertirotti turned in a time of 3:48.90.
In diving, Jessica Wantz added two more victories with a pair of scores in the 300s to run her winning streak to 10 consecutive events. Wantz scored marks of 321.15 in the 3-meter and 312.52 in the 1-meter.
“It was a nice opportunity we put together as a team this afternoon,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “We are happy with the results, and Jessica continues to score well, even though she has not peaked yet.”
Super Tiger Weekend continues on Saturday at 4 p.m. as the full men’s and women’s squads take on Delta State and UL-Monroe at the LSU Natatorium. Admission is free.