COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Sophomore Miko Malberg’s victory in the 50 freestyle and LSU’s winning swim in the men’s 400 medley relay highlighted the Tigers’ performance at Day 1 of the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday.
After 12 events, the LSU men sit in third place out of the four teams with a total of 215 points. The Lady Tiger women are fifth out of seven teams with a tally of 127 points. Host Texas A&M sits atop the standings in both the men’s and women’s sides.
Malberg, the Tigers’ most valuable swimmer in 2004-05, continued his early season surge on Friday by winning his fourth event of the season. After earning the second-fastest time in the preliminaries (20.57), Malberg dashed past A&M’s Andrew Sullivant to win the 50 free “A” final with an NCAA “B” cut clocking of 20.30.
Freshman Justin Corvin reached the consolation final of the 50 free and placed sixth (14th overall) with a time of 21.57.
Malberg later joined Kevin Braud, Chris White and Ryan Ashby for the 400 medley relay, the 12th and final event of the evening. The Tigers capped the night with a convincing win over the SMU and Texas A&M “A” squads (3:19.63).
Colleen Bertirotti earned her NCAA “B” cut with a third-place finish (11th overall) in the consolation final (23.31). Katie Gilmore was 12th at 23.68.
The evening session began with the women’s 200 freestyle relay. The top four finishing teams each earned NCAA consideration with “B” cut times. Coming in fourth with a mark of 1:33.46 was LSU’s team of Katie Gilmore, Heather Brand, Katherine Noland and Bertirotti.
The Tiger men earned a fourth-place finish in their final heat of the 200 free relay (1:24.57).
The first individual event was the women’s 500 freestyle. Sophomore Clare Schepens was LSU’s highest finisher, swimming a time of 4:57.22 in the finals to place 11th. Fellow teammates Katy Leininger and Berit Aljand took 23rd and 24th, respectively.
Julius Gloeckner, participating in his first championship meet, recorded the best time of the prelims in the men’s portion of the 500 free. Gloeckner swam the fifth-fastest time in school history in the finals (4:27.99) to take runner-up.
The freshman owned the best mark in the prelims but was narrowly defeated by Dan White of South Carolina in the final heat (4:27.46).
Justin Corvin was seventh in the championship final of the event with a clocking of (4:44.63).
Gloeckner also held the fastest time of the prelims in the 200 individual medley (1:52.17). He took third place in the championship final (1:52.81), finishing behind SMU’s Alex Hetland (1:49.33) and Ian Clark (1:52.50).
Katherine Noland was the Lady Tiger’s highest finisher in the women’s portion of the 200 IM. The Deerfield Beach, Fla., native was third (19th overall) in the “C” final of the event, touching the wall at 2:08.68.
In diving, Hali Saucier qualified for the 1-meter springboard finals and placed fifth with a score of 279.40. Saucier tallied a mark of 256.00 in the prelims. Alyson Thomas and Paige Brown finished 12th and 13th, respectively in the prelims.
LSU earned a pair of berths in the men’s 3-meter finals. Niko Dalman placed fourth (327.15) and Andrew Keane was sixth (268.25).
Saturday’s preliminary session gets underway at 10 a.m. with the 200 medley relay. Seven other events will take place, each culminating with a finals session at 6 p.m.
2005 Texas A&M Invitational
Nov. 18-20
Student Recreation Center Natatorium
College Station, Texas
Men’s Team Standings (After Day 1)
1. Texas A&M 367.5
2. SMU 324.5
3. LSU 215.0
4. South Carolina 201.0
Women’s Team Standings (After Day 1)
1. Texas A&M 344
2. SMU 295
3. Michigan 253
4. South Carolina 133
5. LSU 127
6. Houston 46
7. Tulane 41
Saturday’s Schedule of Events
200 Medley Relay
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
1-Meter Diving (Women)
3-Meter Diving (Men)
800 Freestyle Relay
Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. Finals get underway at 6 p.m.