BATON ROUGE — Both the LSU Swimming and Diving men’s and women’s team bolstered their overall scores during day two of the Tennessee Invitational.
Through 28 events, the men were in second place with a combined score of 603 and the women were in fifth place with a combined score of 371.5.
“Overall it was a great night for the team,” swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “We had some strong morning swims that locked up top-8 final swims for us tonight. From there it was about being aggressive and racing. We had a number of athletes to have four swims tonight. The swims tonight definitely helped us in overall team competition and the women will have a fight to hold off Arkansas. If the men continue to step up we can finish 2nd in the meet.”
Junior swimmer Amanda Kendall rebounded from her third place prelim swim and earned her second gold of the Invitational in the 100 butterfly (53.16). She also earned first in the consolation final of the 200 free (1:46.67).
Junior swimmer Andrei Tuomola also earned his second first place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a sub-54 second mark of 53.99.
“Andrei had a great race in the breaststroke and went after the race from the start and held on for the win,” Geyer said. “He really seems to be gaining confidence in every race.”
Three other Tigers made the Championship Final in the 100 breast. Sophomore Ricardo Alvarado Jiminez came in fourth (55.26), junior Sean Roddy came in seventh (56.43) and Ben Decker came in eighth (57.34).
Four Tigers completed the 100 backstroke in the Championship Final. Freshman Michael Young (49.24-4th), junior Simon Diefenthal (49.62- 5th), junior Nick Kunkel (49.64- 6th) and junior Brock Davis (51.85-8th).
In the 200 free, three members of the men’s team made the ‘A’ Final. Junior Craig Hamilton finished fourth (1:39.31) followed by Greeff (1:39.66) in fifth and fellow freshman Dillon Love (1:40.00) in seventh.
Freshman Frank Greeff earned silver in the 100 fly with a time of 48.37. Junior Martin Jungfleisch added a fifth place finish in the same event (49.57).
“Frank Greeff, Michael Young and Dillon Love are three freshmen that are really starting to step up from that class,” Geyer said. “Frank keeps getting faster with every race here and has his best event tomorrow with the 200 back.”
The men’s squad took second in the 200 medley relay (1:28.97). The relay was led off by Raymond Depaudua followed by Tuomola, Greeff and Michael Saco.
On the 800 free relay, both the men’s and women’s team came in third. The women’s relay posted a mark of 7:20.12 and the men posted a mark of 6:41.98.
Junior swimmer Sally Wood notched a 400 individual medley life time best of 4:17.16 in a fourth place finish.
Audrey Lawson‘s 100 fly (55.86) was her lifetime best.
Freshman Amber Carter earned an Olympic trial cut in the morning session in the 100-meter fly with a time of 1:01.74 and finished sixth in the evening final.
In diving, the men’s diving cores earned sixth, seventh and eighth place in the one-meter springboard behind sophomore Daniel Helm (321.60), senior Matt Vieke (309.35) and sophomore Kevin Leong (301.80).
On the women’s three-meter dive, freshman Alex Bettridge came in 11th with a score of 268.20 and Elle Schmidt came in 12th with a score of 263.60.
Schedule of events:
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