COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Three LSU swimmers earned first-place finishes in events on Saturday as Day 2 of the Texas A&M Invitational came to a close here at the Student Recreation Center.
After the wins, the LSU men moved into third place with 516 points. The Tigers are trailing SMU and host Texas A&M. In the women’s standings, LSU sits in fifth place with 273.5 points. The Aggies continued their hold atop the women’s board with 808 points.
Leading the way Saturday was versatile freshman Julius Gloeckner. Gloeckner won a pair of events, including the 400 individual medley and 200 freestyle.
Gloeckner bested his preliminary time of 4:06.29 in the 200 IM with the fourth-fastest time in school history in the finals (3:56.90). He later won the 200 free with another all-time top 10 mark of 1:39.70.
Sophomores Miko Malberg and Kevin Braud also picked up victories on the day. Malberg edged Luka Vrtovec of SMU to win the 100 butterfly in a U.S. National qualifying time of 49.10.
Braud captured his win in the 100 backstroke with a U.S. National cut of his own. The sophomore earned first place in the championship final with a clocking of 49.15.
Senior Ryan Ashby turned in a solid performance in the 100 fly, delivering a third-place finish in the championship final (49.59).
On the women’s side, freshman Katherine Noland won the consolation final of the 100 butterfly (55.79). Noland was ninth overall and Heather Brand took 10th with a final time of 55.85.
Sarah Bedell qualified for the “A” final of the women’s 100 breaststroke. She finished eighth with a final time of 1:07.11.
In the men’s portion of the event, Chris White was the Tigers’ highest finisher, earning an eighth-place finish as well (59.04).
Monica McJunkin closed the final women’s individual event with an eighth-place mark of 57.10 in the 100 backstroke. McJunkin’s clocking is the sixth-best time in school history.
In diving, Paige Brown earned a berth in the women’s 3-meter finals with a prelim score of 252.05. Brown took seventh place with a finals’ mark of 293.10.
In the men’s 1-meter, Niko Dalman and Andrew Keane finished fifth and sixth, respectively in the finals. Dalman qualified with the second-best score in the prelims (300.80) and later closed the evening with a score of 288.55.
The final day of competition begins at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with the 1650 freestyle. Finals get underway at 4:30 p.m.