BATON ROUGE — The 17th-ranked LSU men’s swimming and diving team won 10 of 16 events en route to a 174-124 victory over Alabama Friday in the LSU Natatorium, while the Lady Tigers pulled off a 1-2 finish in the final event of the afternoon, the 400-yard freestyle relay, to tie the Crimson Tide in dramatic fashion at 150 points apiece.
The Tigers (1-1, 1-1 SEC) enjoyed a well-rounded effort versus the Tide as five different swimmers touched the wall in first-place in their respective races, and senior diver Niko Dalman captured the one-meter springboard title. The LSU women (0-2-1, 0-2-1 SEC) saw their second straight Southeastern Conference dual meet go down to the wire and battled back to notch the tie.
The Lady Tigers broke the Alabama women’s three-meet winning streak to start the season. The Crimson Tide men fall to 1-2 (0-1 SEC) with the loss.
“Alabama has a very good team,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “Both teams swam really well, and I give them a lot of credit. Our men had an overall team effort today, and they won this one as a team.
“We are still looking for our identity on the women’s side, but I think this meet kind of tells you something about our women’s team. They were able to dig down deep and respond when they needed to.”
Sophomore Hannes Heyl emerged as the Tigers’ leading scorer with a phenomenal effort in individual competition. The two-time All-American took both backstroke events and captured first-place in a 1-2-3 LSU sweep of the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.71 seconds.
Seniors Connor Farber, Christoph Lubenau and Julius Gloeckner recorded one victory apiece against the Tide. Farber, one of the team’s two captains, registered a first-place finish in the 100 freestyle for the second time this season (45.58), while Lubenau, a two-time All-American at last year’s NCAA Championships, recorded a win in his trademark event, the 100 butterfly (48.93). Gloeckner finished on top in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:50.59.
In addition, sophomore Clint Hallum, known more for his distance-freestyle abilities, seized first in the 200 free, swimming the race in 1:39.82.
The Lady Tigers leaned heavily on senior leader Katherine Noland and dynamic freshman Morgan McGee, and the two responded once again. Noland took top honors in both sprint races, the 50 and 100 frees, and McGee swept the backstroke events with another pair of personal-best swims. The Shreveport, La., native improved her top 100-back time with a clocking of 55.47 and finished the 200 back in 2:00.84. Furthermore, both swimmers played key roles in the squad’s victorious 400 freestyle relay, which was pivotal in the outcome of the meet.
Senior Katie Gilmore and junior Lauren Grandy secured wins in the 100 fly and 200 free, respectively, and senior Vanessa Duenas topped her personal-best time in the 200 fly for the third consecutive week, reaching the wall in 2:01.74.
The LSU women’s team also received a fine effort from the 400 freestyle relay ?B’ team of Grandy, Sabrina Messmer, Samantha Goates and Leigh Ann King, who gave the Lady Tigers a runner-up finish in the final race to tie the dual meet.
The diving events featured a matchup of two of the top men’s divers in the SEC in Dalman and Alabama’s Aaron Fleshner. Dalman emerged victorious in the one-meter springboard with a score of 331.35, but he was not able to overtake Fleshner in the three-meter, finishing second behind the conference’s reigning champion in that event.
Junior Rachel Ware also collected a victory in the one-meter springboard on the women’s side, and freshman Matt Vieke displayed his talents, qualifying for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional in only his second collegiate contest with a three-meter score of 321.23.
“We have not yet performed to our capabilities,” diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “I like some of the things I’m seeing, but I’m a little more urgent with some of the other things that we need to see. Matt Vieke had a personal-high and NCAA qualifying score on three-meter, which is an excellent accomplishment.”
The LSU swimming and diving teams will take two weeks off from competition before traveling to College Station, Texas to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational, Nov. 21-23.