BATON ROUGE — Senior diver Hali Saucier shattered the six-dive, 3-meter springboard school record and sophomore Katherine Noland won three individual events Thursday as the LSU women’s swimming and diving team was defeated by No. 2 Florida, 172-128, at the LSU Natatorium.
The Lady Tigers (2-2, 1-2 SEC) turned in a hard-fought meet, contending in nearly every race and picking up victories in six events behind several season-fast times. The Lady Gators (4-0, 2-0) claimed nine first-place finishes.
“I think our team was very focused and confident going up against the No. 2 team,” said head coach Adam Schmitt. “Their goal was to perform. Looking across the board we had season bests and even lifetime bests. We are continually building for the SEC Championships.”
Saucier dove a tally of 340.35 highlighting a 1-2 finish by LSU in the 3-meter. The career-high score broke Ashley Culpepper’s school-record mark of 337.65 set in 1998.
“We started our warm-up today and I wrote all the pool records and school records down,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “It was something Hali and I talked about from the beginning of the season on. She set her sights on it, and we put the preparation tog ether. Hali is really becoming consistent with her dives.”
However, Saucier still believes there is room for improvement even after setting a school record.
“I am finally learning how to win in my head, and I am comfortable in my own pool,” said Saucier. “I still have a lot of room for improvement, and I plan on breaking my record again.”
Saucier opened Thursday’s competition with a victory in the 1-meter (321.37), thus completing a sweep of both diving events for the third straight meet. The senior has won the last seven events she has competed in dating back to a victory in the 3-meter at the SMU Classic on Oct. 21.
Junior Paige Brown posted a career-high, 1-meter tally of 275.17 to finish behind Saucier in second place. Freshman Rachel Ware completed a 1-2-3 finish by the Lady Tigers with a third-place score of 268.64.
LSU’s remarkable day continued when Noland captured three events against the nation’s second-best squad. The sophomore out touched Stephanie Napier to win the 50 free in a time of 23.84.
With little rest, Noland paced the Lady Tigers to a 1-2 finish in the 100 free two events later (51.69). Sophomore Sabrina Messmer took second-place honors (52.81). Noland completed her brilliant day with a victory in the 100 butterfly (57.04).
Meanwhile, Messmer posted a season-fast swim in the 200 free as well, finishing second with a clocking of 1:52.95.
Freshman Signe Larson, the LSU Female Student Athlete of the Week, won for the third time in as many tries with a victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.21). She was second in the 200 breaststroke (2:19.89).
Junior Clare Schepens was the Lady Tigers’ highest finisher in both distance free events, taking fourth and fifth in the 500 and 1000 free, respectively with times of 5:02.87 and 10:34.54.
Sophomore Berit Aljand guided LSU to second place in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:04.32.
LSU closed the meet on a positive note by cruising to victory in the 200 free relay behind a split of 23.15 from sophomore Katie Gilmore.
The Lady Tigers join the men in SEC action at 3:30 p.m. Friday as rival Alabama visits the LSU Natatorium. Admission is free.