BATON ROUGE, La.- The LSU Swimming and Diving program got off to a positive start at the Tennessee Invitational behind strong individual and relay performances on Wednesday and will look to improve Thursday and Friday.
“All in all I think we will get better each day while we are here and its great to learn the ins and outs of the facility prior to the SEC Championships being held here in February,” Swimming Coach Dave Geyer said.
After the first day of competition, the men were in third place with 191 points and the women were in fifth place with 158.5 points.
Junior swimmers Amanda Kendall and Andrei Tuomola led their respective squads with first place finishes in the 50 freestyle.
Kendall notched a mark of 22.36 after earning the top spot in the preliminary morning swim in the 50-meter free with a time of 25.93.
Tuomola earned gold with an impressive mark of 19.94. He also took first in the prelims with a time of 23.41.
Senior Samantha Goates also cranked out a second place swim in the 50 free to help the Lady Tigers. She posted a 23.03 after notching the second fastest time in the morning session in the 50-meter free (23.03).
“Taking 1-2 in the women’s 50 free and first in the men’s 50 free helped get our team excited,” Geyer said. “Having Andrei drop below that 20.0 barrier will definitely give him confidence moving forward.”
The Lady Tiger 200 free relay was also a first place finish. The 200 free relay was led off by Kendall followed by freshmen Marlene Niemi and Amber Carter and Goates.
The men’s 200 free relay finished fifth and the 400 medley relay finished third and fifth.
“Lots of different relays to look at tonight which will help us down the road to look at solidifying our spots at SEC’s,” Geyer said. “Frank Greeff threw down an impressive 47.85 split on the fly leg, which will give him momentum tomorrow in the individual 100.”
Sara Haley posted a lifetime best in the 500 free (4:51.23) while finishing third in the consolation final.
In diving on the three-meter springboard, sophomore Daniel Helm scored his highest six dive total of the season (373.50) in a fifth place finish. Fellow diver senior Matt Vieke also had a strong performance in an eighth place finish (316.55).
On the women’s side on the one-meter spring board, freshman Alex Bettridge executed a mark of 271.45 in an eighth place finish.
“I feel the divers performed well today,” Diving Coach Doug Shaffer said. “Four of the five men made the finals and that’s a great accomplishment. Alex was solid as a rock in both the prelims and finals. Daniel had a break out performance in the finals, his highest score of the year.”
Schedule of events:
Thursday, Nov. 17:
Day Two Prelims:
400 meter individual medley
100 meter butterfly
200 meter freestyle
100 meter breaststroke
100 meter backstroke
Men’s one-meter diving
Women’s three-meter diving
Day Two Finals:
200 yard medley relay
400 yard individual medley
100 yard butterfly
200 yard freestyle
100 yard breaststroke
100 yard backstroke
Men’s one-meter diving
Women’s three-meter diving
800 yard freestyle relay
Friday, Nov. 18:
Day Three Prelims:
200 meter backstroke
100 meter freestyle
200 meter breaststroke
200 meter butterfly
Men’s and Women’s Platform
400 meter freestyle relay
1500 meter freestyle- 1heat
Day Three Finals:
1650 yard freestyle
200 yard backstroke
100 yard freestyle
200 yard breaststroke
200 yard butterfly
400 yard freestyle relay