ATHENS, Ga. — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each closed out the 2010 SEC Championships with seventh-place finishes Saturday in Athens, Ga.
The women’s team tallied 262.5 points, while the Tigers accumulated 263.5 points.
Men’s freshman Craig Hamilton led the Tigers on Day 4 with an outstanding performance in his signature event, the 1650-yard freestyle. The Edinburgh, Scotland, native made a strong case for an invitation to the NCAA Championships with his sixth-place finish and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 15 minutes, 8.28 seconds, which crushed the school record by more than 13 seconds.
Sophomore Mary Beck swam to her second championship final in as many days in the 200 backstroke and improved her school-record mark with a time of 1:56.89 to capture seventh.
The Lady Tigers closed out the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 400 free relay as the foursome of Jane Trepp, Amanda Kendall, Samantha Goates and Morgan McGee registered a provisional mark of 3:19.09. The Tigers placed sixth in the men’s relay with the group of Sean LeNeave, Hannes Heyl, James Meyers and Andrei Tuomola also notching a ‘B’ cut of 2:55.80.
“Overall, I’m very proud of our group for coming out and competing hard throughout the competition,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “Craig had a great swim today in the mile race and will definitely be in the running for a bid to NCAA’s, and Mary improved her school record in the 200 back.
“The standings didn’t necessarily work out for us in the end, but we did have some great times and diving performances over the past four days, and I’m pretty sure we qualified some of our men’s and women’s swimmers to NCAA’s. Ultimately, our goal is to do well there, and I think it will come together when we get there.”
Tuomola, Heyl, Simon Diefenthal, Clint Hallum, Sean Roddy and Martin Jungfleisch each reached the consolation final in their respective events for the men’s team, while Kendall, Goates and Kannon Betzen also earned second swims for the Lady Tigers.
Tuomola delivered a 10th-place finish in the 100 free, touching the wall in a ‘B’ cut mark of 43.65, fourth in program history. Heyl finished 16th in that race (44.06).
Diefenthal enjoyed his best swim of the season in the 200-back preliminaries with a personal best and provisional cut of 1:46.26, which moved him into fourth all-time at LSU. He registered 13th in the finals (1:46.81).
Hallum and Roddy spearheaded the Tigers’ efforts in the 200 breaststroke as Hallum swam to a personal best of 2:00.85 to place 15th, while Roddy took 16th in 2:02.09. Jungfleisch was the men’s top finisher in the 200 butterfly, reaching the wall in 1:48.42 to record 16th after posting the third-fastest mark in school history in the prelims, 1:47.46.
Kendall and Goates each qualified in the women’s 100 free. Kendall emerged in 10th with a personal best and ‘B’ cut of 49.51, second in program annals. Goates also swam to a ‘B’ cut and lifetime best to place 13th. Her mark of 50.07 is seventh in school history.
Betzen was 16th in the 200 breast after qualifying with a season best of 2:18.30.
In women’s platform diving, freshman Rebecca St. Germain scored 222.25 points in her first career appearance in the event to come in 12th. That mark is fourth in program annals. Fellow freshman Elle Schmidt finished 17th with a career-high score of 197.40.
Men’s backstrokers Nick Kunkel and Lee Duggins each earned program top-10 times in the 200 back with marks of 1:48.79 and 1:49.00, respectively. The duo finished back-to-back in 19th and 20th.
Senior Lauren Grandy improved her top time in the 100 free, racing to a 50.69 clocking and a 21st-place finish.
Freshman Sara Haley led the Lady Tigers in the 200 fly, placing 18th (2:01.25). Senior Andrew Reynolds was 19th in the men’s 200 fly with his season best of 1:49.96.
The Lady Bulldogs of Georgia captured their seventh SEC team championship in front of the home crowd with 824.5 points, while the Auburn men extended their streak of conference titles to 14 straight with 784 points.
Women’s Final Standings
1. Georgia – 824.5
2. Florida – 698
3. Auburn – 568
4. Tennessee – 497
5. Alabama – 272
6. Arkansas – 262.5
7. LSU – 262
8. Kentucky – 204
9. South Carolina – 158
10. Vanderbilt – 59
Men’s Final Standings
1. Auburn – 784
2. Florida – 765
3. Georgia – 587
4. Tennessee – 417.5
5. Alabama – 340
6. Kentucky – 320
7. LSU – 263.5
8. South Carolina – 183