BATON ROUGE — The 23rd ranked LSU women’s Swimming and Diving squad (2-3, 1-1 SEC) jumped out to a lead on host Houston, Rice and Tulane at their quad-meet despite suffering numerous setbacks in the first day of competition.
The Tigers lead Houston 102.00-84.00, Rice 123.00-57.00 and Tulane 127.50-55.50 and will look to seal the deal in the final day of competition tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m.
“It was a competitive first day of meet today for the women,” Swimming Coach Dave Geyer said. “Having some athletes out for injury and illness put us in a situation where we needed others to take a leadership role in the water. We have another day of racing tomorrow where there will be a definite need to continue to perform and execute our races well to win the meet.”
Without team leaders senior Samantha Goates and juniors Amanda Kendall and Sara Haley, the Tigers utilized their depth to jump out to a day one lead on their three opponents.
LSU immediately showed they would be a force to be reckoned with early in the meet with a first and third finish in the 200 medley relay, the first event of the evening. One of the Tigers main goals heading into the meet was solidifying their relays prior to the SEC Championships next month.
Jana Ruimerman, Torrey Bussey, Amber Carter and Sally Wood delivered a gold medal performance, and each of them would have individual success as the meet progressed.
Carter, a freshman from Houston, Texas touched the wall first in the 100 butterfly with a mark of 55.44. She was followed in second by sophomore Rainey White (55.88).
Following the 100 fly, the Tigers took 1-2-3 in the 100 backstroke. Freshmen Kaetlin Sepp and Jennifer Reese finished with marks of 57.40 and 57.73 respectively. Ruimerman was close behind them in third with a time of 57.82.
Sophomore Bussey continued the success with the top time in the 200 breaststroke (2:19.02).
Freshman diver Alex Bettridge (260.05) and junior Elle Schmidt (254.95) posted third and fourth place finishes to add to LSU’s total.
The divers responded directly after on the three-meter spring board. Bettridge won the event with a score of 317.05 and Elle Schmidt came in fourth in the same event with a score of 273.45.
“I was pleased with the way Alex and Elle competed,” Diving Coach Doug Shaffer said. “It took a bit to work out the bus ride and we struggled getting our legs. It’s a challenge to travel and compete in the same day, and we did very well in respect to that.”
After the diving break, freshman Marlene Niemi tied her season high in the 50 free with a first place performance (23.57).
Wood responded directly after Niemi by out touching all of her competitors as well in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:04.68. Bussey (2:04.82) placed second to increase the Tigers total.
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