BATON ROUGE — The No. 17 LSU men raced to a commanding 122-42 advantage over the University of New Orleans in the first session of the men’s dual meet Friday at the LSU Natatorium, while the 24th-ranked Lady Tigers jumped out to big leads over Tulane, Houston and Rice on the first day of their competition in Texas.
The Lady Tigers currently hold a 139-42 advantage over the Green Wave, a 121-58 lead over the Owls and a 106-78 advantage over the Cougars. Both the men’s and women’s meets will continue tomorrow at 11 a.m. (CST). Admission to the men’s meet at the LSU Natatorium is free. Log onto www.LSUsports.net for details on the women’s meet at Houston.
Junior Jane Trepp and sophomore Mary Beck each delivered a pair of victories to spearhead the Lady Tigers on Day 1. Trepp recorded her second-straight NCAA provisional mark in the 100-yard butterfly with a clocking of 54.62 seconds and reached the wall first in the 50 freestyle (23.20). Beck swam to victory in the 100 backstroke (55.88) and 200 individual medley (2:03.29).
Freshman Zack Wepasnick enjoyed the finest day of his young career Friday to lead the men’s the squad against the Privateers. The Brookeville, Md., native earned wins in the 200 breaststroke and 200 I.M. with career bests of 2:02.73 and 1:51.32, respectively.
Fellow freshmen Andrei Tuomola and Craig Hamilton, senior Sean LeNeave, junior Lamar Weeks and sophomore Simon Diefenthal also registered victories on the afternoon for the Tigers.
Tuomola won the 50 free (20.40), and Hamilton touched first in the 1000 free (9:27.28). LeNeave posted a first-place finish in the 200 free, while Weeks came away with the win in the 100 fly in a season best of 50.65. Diefenthal notched first in the 100 back (51.46).
The men also swept the 200 medley and 400 free relays with winning times of 1:30.92 and 3:07.43, respectively.
The Lady Tigers 400 free relay foursome of Amanda Kendall, Kannon Betzen, Trepp and Beck closed out the women’s session with a victorious mark of 3:24.93.