HOUSTON — The 15th-ranked LSU men’s swimming and diving team wrapped up the Cougar Classic Fall Invitational Sunday in victorious fashion, while the 21st-ranked Lady Tigers posted a third-place finish in the women’s nine-team field.
The Tigers tallied 1,448 points in the men’s standings over a three-day period to take first-place, more than twice as many points as runner-up SMU accumulated. The women’s team collected 621 points over the weekend.
“I’m proud of our teams, coming into a championship-formatted meet for the first time this season and racing hard,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “Our men’s team won the competition, and the women competed well, going against some outstanding programs like Texas A&M and SMU.
“We’ve had a good start to our season over the past couple of months, and we hope to continue training well for the second half.”
Sophomore Mary Beck improved her school-record time in the 200-yard backstroke, and freshman Craig Hamilton emerged victorious in the 1650 freestyle to highlight the teams’ efforts Sunday.
Beck swam to a new program record and NCAA ?B’ cut mark of 1 minute, 57.38 seconds in the 200-back preliminaries before taking third in the finals with a 1:58.48 clocking. Hamilton picked up his second NCAA provisional time of the weekend with his win in the 1650 free. The Edinburgh, Scotland, native recorded the fourth-fastest time in school history, 15:29.79.
The women’s 400 freestyle relay group of Amanda Kendall, Beck, Samantha Goates and Jane Trepp also delivered an NCAA provisional mark with a time of 3:23.56 to place third, while the men’s 400 free foursome of Andrei Tuomola, Hannes Heyl, Sean LeNeave and Reijo Hyvenen registered runner-up honors (3:01.33).
Moreover, Heyl, Simon Diefenthal, Sara Haley, Clint Hallum, Sean Roddy and Martin Jungfleisch claimed top-three finishes.
Heyl swam the 100 free in a season best of 45.04 to earn second, and Diefenthal touched the wall in 1:51.90 to finish second in the 200 back. Haley took third in the 200 butterfly (2:01.31).
Hallum and Roddy emerged in second and third in the 200 breast with times of 2:06.02 and 2:07.92, respectively. Jungfleisch seized third in the 200 fly (1:52.79).
In diving, sophomores Brian Gemberling, Matt Vieke and freshman Jesse Lyman placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in the men’s platform competition. Gemberling scored a career-high 259.05 points, fourth in program history, while Vieke posted a 252.60 mark, and Lyman tallied a 238.85 score. Freshman Elle Schmidt secured third-place in the women’s platform with a 183.80 mark.
The LSU divers will compete again when they travel to the Alabama Diving Invitational, beginning Dec. 17. The LSU swimmers will not race again until early January.
Cougar Classic Fall Invitational
Nov. 20-22 ? Houston, Texas
Men’s Final Standings
1. LSU ? 1,448
2. SMU ? 687
3. UNLV ? 678
4. Incarnate Word ? 468
Women’s Final Standings
1. Texas A&M ? 1,563
2. SMU ? 666
3. LSU ? 621
4. Houston ? 465
5. Tulane ? 204
6. Air Force ? 121
7. Incarnate Word ? 118
8. Kansas ? 105
9. UNLV ? 48