BATON ROUGE – The LSU swimming and diving team dropped the first dual meet of the season by scores of 180-112 for the men and 170.5-118.5 for the women.
On the diving side, senior Sean McKinney swept the one and three-meter diving events with scores of 378.15 and 370.95 respectively. McKinney’s scores are high enough to qualify for NCAA Zone Diving Regionals and his one-meter dive was a career high.
For the women divers, Alex Bettridge placed second in the one-meter dive with a score of 272.33 and Cassie Weil was the top point earner in the three-meter dive with a final score of 332.63.
“Overall I saw really positive things in the way we performed today,” LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “I put a lot of pressure on them to day in hope that they would respond. I think it made them very nervous and it got to us. There’s a lot of positives and we’ll go home and get prepared for tomorrow morning.”
The Bulldogs got off to an explosive start, winning the first 10 events, before freshman Kara Kopcso earned her first collegiate victory in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:59.06.
“She had a solid 200 fly and it wasn’t the prettiest swim out there but she was able to hold on for us,” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “If she continues to execute then she will get faster. It was a stellar way to start out for her.”
Sophomore Megan Cox posted a 200 freestyle mark of 1:49.97 to finish second and a time of 52.03 in the 100 freestyle to finish fourth.
Junior and captain of the women’s team, Amber Carter was runner-up in both the 50 free (23.32) and 100 butterfly (55.24).
Sophomore Caley Oquist also earned second place in the 100 backstroke (56.76).
Senior and NCAA qualifier Torrey Bussey notched a second place swim in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.66.
For the men, senior Frank Greeff touched the wall second in the 200 butterfly (1:48.87 and third in the 400 butterfly (49.83). Greeff was also a part of the second place 200-medley relay team (1:30.99) joined by Michael Saco, Alex Linge and Michael Young.
Another freshman, Brandon Goldman also had a strong day, finishing third in the 200 backstroke (1:51.40) and earning 9 points in the 400 IM.
Sophomore Gabe Rooker likewise had a solid first meet, touching the wall third in the 200 breaststroke (2:03.08).
“There were some really good swims out there and there’s always room to improve,” Geyer said. “Going against such topic competition gets some nerves out and I expect us to come out strong tomorrow morning against Arkansas.”
The Lady Tigers will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at the LSU Natatorium. Fans will have the chance to enter their name in a drawing to win a football helmet signed by Les Miles.
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