ATHENS, Ga. — LSU senior Julius Gloeckner substantially improved his chances of earning an invitation to the NCAA Championships with school record-setting swims in the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys Saturday, while the men’s 200 freestyle relay squad also broke a program record on Day 1 of Georgia’s Last Chance Meet.
Gloeckner, who holds school records in both individual medley events, registered a blistering NCAA ?B’ cut qualifying time of 3 minutes, 45.10 seconds in the 400 IM time trial to overtake his previous record of 3:45.77 recorded in 2007. His new record time is just 22 hundredths of a second off the NCAA automatic qualifying time and places him in the top-10 nationally in that race.
In addition, the German topped his record time of 1:46.28 in the 200 IM with a mark of 1:45.96 in Saturday’s preliminaries, another NCAA provisional time.
The men’s 200 freestyle foursome of Hannes Heyl, Sean LeNeave, Gloeckner and Brandon Selts captured a new program mark with a time of 1:18.15, which is three tenths of a second faster than the record set by LSU’s All-America team of a year ago.
LeNeave also secured a personal best in the 50 free with a time of 20.21.
On the women’s side, the 200 freestyle relay group of Katie Gilmore, Monica McJunkin, Jane Trepp and Katherine Noland reached the wall in 1:30.23, and 400 medley squad of McJunkin, Kannon Betzen, Noland and Gilmore finished with a mark of 3:40.95.
Moreover, Gilmore’s lead-off split of 22.75 in the 200 freestyle relay is her best of the season and also a provisional qualifying time.
The Last Chance Meet will continue Sunday at 9 a.m. (CST). Both teams are scheduled to race in the 400 freestyle relays. The Lady Tigers also may line up several swimmers in the 100 free and Betzen in the 200 breaststroke, while Gloeckner may swim the 200 butterfly.