BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams emerged victorious Wednesday afternoon, overpowering Southeastern Conference rival, Kentucky at the LSU Natatorium.
The 19th-ranked men’s squad (3-1, 2-1 SEC) recorded its third consecutive dual-meet victory, 177-123, behind three individual wins from senior Julius Gloeckner. The Lady Tigers (2-2-1, 1-2-1 SEC) won 10 of 16 races and swept both relays to capture their first SEC win of the season, 175-118.
“In the first semester, I think the women were trying to find an identity for their team,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “I think they’ve done that here today. They saw what they needed to do in Florida (FAU meet), came back and proved to me and to themselves that they are a very good team.
“On the men’s side, they’ve been working really hard and put together some good times today. If we’re doing that now, then I can’t wait to see what we’re capable of after we start to rest and come down a little bit to get ready for the SEC Championships, so that we can hit that peak when we want to.”
Both LSU teams jumped out to a quick start with victories in the 400-yard medley relay to open the meet. The Lady Tigers’ foursome of Morgan McGee, Jane Trepp, Katherine Noland and Katie Gilmore swam to victory with a time of 3 minutes, 45.94 seconds, while the men’s ?A’ team of Hannes Heyl, Ben Decker, Christoph Lubenau and Julius Gloeckner secured the win with a time of 3:19.54.
The women’s team took control of its dual meet with a couple of 1-2-3 sweeps spearheaded by McGee and Noland. McGee, a freshman from Shreveport, La., took first-place in the 100 backstroke (55.90), and teammates Monica McJunkin and Samantha Goates followed in second and third, respectively. Noland topped the field in the 100 free (51.37) with senior Sabrina Messmer taking second and McJunkin coming in third.
The dynamic duo also proved to be pivotal in other individual events as McGee notched her second victory of the afternoon in the 200 back, and Noland paced the women’s sprint freestyle efforts with a win in the 50 free.
Vanessa Duenas sparked the women’s squad with two wins as well, prevailing in the 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. Messmer won the 200 free with a time of 1:51.68, and junior Lauren Grandy finished on top in the 500 free (4:59.72).
The Tigers put away the men’s meet with a pair of 1-2-3 finishes of their own. The men’s trio of Gloeckner, Decker and Nate Telep swept the 200 breast, while Clint Hallum, Luis Gonzalez and Sean LeNeave finished ahead of the Wildcats in the 500 free.
Gloeckner also seized the 200 butterfly (1:50.06) and the 200 IM (1:49.85) on a stellar afternoon for the Tigers’ versatile senior. In addition, Gonzalez won the 1000 free, reaching the wall in 9:25.34, and sophomore Hannes Heyl registered a first-place finish in the 100 back with a time of 49.53.
The Tigers also received wins from Christoph Lubenau in the 100 butterfly (49.10) and Roy Chambers in the 100 breast (57.44).
The LSU divers enjoyed an outstanding competition as senior Niko Dalman captured both the men’s one-meter and three-meter springboards, and a pair of divers earned berths to the NCAA Zone Diving Regional with qualifying scores.
Dalman posted a win in the one-meter with a career-high 357.68 score, the second-highest total in school history. He took the three-meter title later in the competition with a mark of 333.00. Freshman Brian Gemberling qualified for the NCAA Zone Regional after tallying 301.50 points in the one-meter, and fellow freshman Chelsea McCorvey secured her bid to the Zone Regional with a one-meter score of 282.16.