BATON ROUGE — LSU swimming and diving’s Purple squad captured 19 of 26 events en route to a 132-92 victory over the Gold team in the programs’ annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad Meet Friday in the LSU Natatorium.
Freshman Craig Hamilton shined in his collegiate debut, sweeping all three of his individual events for the Purple squad, while five of his fellow teammates earned two victories apiece to propel them to victory.
“We had some really solid performances today,” said LSU assistant coach David Geyer, who helped guide the Purple team to victory along with fellow assistant Kevin Clements. “Kannon Betzen, Hannes Heyl and Sean LeNeave all swam well, and we saw some good times from some of our newcomers. It was a nice start, but it’s very early in our training, and certainly we have some room for improvement.”
Hamilton controlled the men’s middle- and long-distance freestyle races as the Edinburgh, Scotland, native swam to victory in the 1000-yard freestyle with a mark of 9 minutes, 27.52 seconds and also took first-place in both the 200 and 500 free.
Betzen enjoyed a nice start to her season, reeling off victories in both the 200 individual medley (2:04.88) and 200 breaststroke (2:23.46) for the Purple, while her teammate Heyl won both the 50 and 100 free, and fellow Purple squad member Lauren Grandy reached the wall first in the 500 and 1000 free.
The Purple team also received fine efforts from its divers as sophomore Brian Gemberling and freshman Rebecca St. Germain swept their respective springboard events. Gemberling totaled 311.10 points in the three-meter and 289.05 in the one-meter, while St. Germain tallied scores of 294.00 and 260.40 in the three-meter and one-meter, respectively.
In addition, newcomers Mary Beck and Sara Haley proved to be difference-makers for the Purple in their Lady Tiger debuts. Beck, a transfer from California, seized the 200 free with a mark of 1:50.85 and spearheaded her team’s 400 medley relay to victory with a lead-off split of 55.68 on the backstroke leg. Haley swam to victory in the 200 butterfly with an impressive early-season time of 2:01.05. Junior Clint Hallum also notched a win for Purple, taking first-place in 200 I.M. (1:55.61), and sophomore Martin Jungfleisch registered a win in the 200 fly.
The Gold team was led by junior co-captain Jane Trepp, sophomore Ben Decker and the freshman trio of Amanda Kendall, Jana Ruimerman and Nick Kunkel. Trepp touched the wall first in the 50 free, while Decker claimed victory in the 200 breast. Kendall took top honors in the 100 free, and both Ruimerman and Kunkel won their respective races in the 200 back.
LSU will officially open the dual-meet season on Oct. 16 as the Tigers welcome the Tennessee men to the Natatorium. The Lady Tigers and Lady Vols will compete on the following day. Log on to www.LSUsports.net for more information.