ATHENS, Ga. — In the final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships, LSU sophomore All-American Julius Gloeckner shattered three school records at the Bulldog Invitational over the weekend at the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Gloeckner now holds more school records than any LSU male swimmer in school history, surpassing the likes of record holders Rodrigo Castro (2000), Nate Thomson (1997) and Evan Martinec (2004). Each of those individuals claimed two school records in respective events.
The record-breaking weekend began when the Freiburg, Germany, native eclipsed his own career mark in the 400 individual medley. Gloeckner posted the third-fastest time in the nation in the 400 IM prelims (3:46.84) and in the process bested his own school record by an astonishing three seconds.
Going into the season, Gloeckner was second all-time in the 200 IM. On Saturday, he made it a clean sweep of school records in individual medley events with an NCAA provisional cut of 1:47.26. That clocking broke Jarrod Marrs’ old mark of 1:48.07 set in 1998.
Gloeckner notched his third school record with a time of 1:45.37 in the 200 butterfly prelims. He had previously held the fourth-best mark in school history but broke Maurico Cunha’s time of 1:46.75 set in 1996 in just one prelim swim.
Despite not possessing a strength in breaststroke events, Gloeckner’s career weekend was capped with the sixth-fastest time in school history in the 200 breaststroke (2:00.54).
Several other LSU swimmers improved their chances at an NCAA berth with time trial swims. Sophomore Christoph Lubenau posted a career-high and the fourth-fastest time in school history in the 100 fly prelims (47.38). Junior Kevin Braud recorded the second-best 100 backstroke time in school history with a mark of 48.31 in the prelims.
Braud had previously held the third-fastest time in school history but now only trails Martinec for the No. 1 clocking.
Both the men’s and women’s 200 free relay teams improved their NCAA provisional times. The men’s team of Miko Malberg, Connor Farber, Gloeckner and Lubenau posted a time of 1:19.64, while the women’s squad of Katherine Noland, Colleen Bertirotti, Katie Gilmore and Sabrina Messmer recorded a mark of 1:31.32.
A complete list of LSU swimmers who qualify for the NCAA Championships will be released when the berths are announced. The meet gets underway on March 8 at Minneapolis, Minn.