HOUSTON — Another phenomenal day from senior swimmer Jane Trepp and victories in 13 of 16 events helped the nationally-ranked LSU swimming and diving teams lengthen their leads Friday at the University of Houston’s Phil Hansel Cougar Classic Invitational.
The 22nd-ranked Lady Tigers posted victories in five of eight events to bring their team score to 799.5 and distance themselves from No. 18 SMU and the rest of the seven-team field. The 22nd-ranked LSU men swept all eight events to take a commanding lead over SMU, 1,200-577.
“It was another good session for us today,” co-head coach David Geyer said. “We carried our momentum from last night into the morning prelims and put ourselves in a position to race fast in the finals. We came back out this evening and had some very good performances.”
With another nation-leading time and a pair of school records, Trepp continues to make her case as one of the nation’s best swimmers in the first half of the collegiate season.
The five-time All-American blew away the field in the 100-yard butterfly with a school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 52.11 seconds, the fastest time in the country this season. That mark was just nine one-hundredths of a second off the NCAA ‘A’ cut and nearly a half second faster than the winning time of 52.55 recorded by Auburn’s Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace at last year’s SEC Championships.
Less than an hour later, the Estonian returned to the competition pool and blistered the field in the 100 breaststroke with another ‘B’ cut and school-record time of 1:00.70.
Freshman Cari Blalock registered her second provisional mark of the competition with a winning time of 4:17.19 in the 400 individual medley, fourth in school history, while sophomore diver Rebecca St. Germain captured the victory in the women’s one-meter with a 297.95 score.
The Lady Tigers added a victory in relay competition as the foursome of Chelsea Griffiths, Trepp, Amanda Kendall and Samantha Goates swam a provisional mark and season best of 1:40.21.
In addition, Kendall, Bussey and Kannon Betzen each raced to provisional marks on the evening. Kendall earned second behind Trepp in the 100 fly with a 54.50 clocking, Bussey took runner-up honors in the 100 breast (1:01.67) and Betzen was third in the 100 breast (1:02.50).
Kendall’s career best of 54.25 in the prelims of the 100 fly and Bussey’s time in the 100 breast were both program top-10 times.
On the men’s side, sophomore Andrei Tuomola continued to have a strong meet, emerging victorious in the 100 breast with a ‘B’ cut of 54.19 and leading the men’s 200 medley relay to victory (1:28.69) with a breaststroke split of 23.87.
Junior diver Brian Gemberling spearheaded the Tiger divers to another 1-2-3-4 finish in the one-meter after capturing the win with a 339.55 score. Fellow junior Matt Vieke dove to second with a career high of 337.35, eighth in program history, while freshman Sean McKinney delivered a program top-10 score of 328.60 to finish third, and fellow freshman Daniel Helm was fourth with a career best of 325.05.
Senior Hannes Heyl remained perfect on the season in the 100 fly with a winning time of 49.36, while fellow seniors Luis Gonzalez and James Meyers raced to victory in the 400 I.M. (3:56.88) and 100 back (49.40), respectively.
Sophomore Craig Hamilton pitched in with a victory in the 200 freestyle (1:39.52), and the men’s 800 free relay of Clint Hallum, Martin Jungfleisch, Hamilton and Timmy Dasinger concluded the meet with a winning mark of 6:43.76.
The Cougar Classic wraps up Saturday with prelims beginning at 10 a.m., and finals following at 6 p.m.
Phil Hansel Cougar Classic Invitational
Nov. 18-20
Day 2
Women’s Team Standings
1. LSU – 799.5
2. SMU – 608.5
3. Houston – 382
4. Rice – 323
5. Tulane – 247
6. New Mexico – 207
7. Nebraska (divers) – 98
Men’s Team Standings
1. LSU – 1,200
2. SMU – 577
3. Texas A&M – 36