TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — LSU diver Alex Bettridge swept both springboard events, and swimmer Amber Carter took home two wins as the Lady Tigers split Saturday’s dual meet at the Alabama Aquatic Center. The 16th-ranked women’s team (2-2, 1-2 SEC) defeated Alabama 155-145 but lost to Auburn 124-176. Auburn and Alabama defeated the LSU men’s team by scores of 75-225 and 80-220.
Bettridge tallied scores of 304.20 on one-meter and 325.40 on three-meter. Junior Cassie Weil followed Bettridge with second-place finishes on both springboard events. Weil finished with a score of 321.90 on three-meter and 279.15 on one-meter.
Allie Alter also finished fourth overall in both events with scores of 272.40 on one-meter and 281.80 on three-meter. For the men, Daniel Helm finished fourth on three-meter (310.95) and fifth on one-meter (308.40).
“The women divers were absolutely phenomenal today,” LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “They were solid and consistent for both events. The highlight of the day was the performance by Allie (Alter). She was phenomenal.”
Carter and Kara Kopcso provided wins for the women. Carter touched the wall first in the 50 free (22.90) and 100 fly (53.56). Kopcso finished first in the 200 fly and broke the two-minute mark with a time of 1:59.89. Kopcso also finished third in the 100 fly and fourth in the 400 IM.
“It was a total team effort from our women today” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said.” We fought both SEC programs hard and were able to win one of the dual meets. Getting a win, against an SEC opponent, caps off a challenging month for us.”
Devon Dabney finished fourth in both distance events. The sophomore finished the 500 free in 4:59.47 and the 1000 free in 10:07.95.
Junior Megan Cox notched third-place finishes in the 100 and 200 free with times of 51.15 and 1:50.07.
Caley Oquist touched the wall second with a time of 54.26 in the 100 back. The junior also finished third in the 200 back (1:59.83).
On the men’s side, Brandon Goldman and Frank Greeff finished third and fourth respectively in the 200 fly with times of 1:49.62 and 1:49.88. Goldman also finished third in the 200 back (1:48.79).
Marco Gonzalez touched the wall third in the 50 free (20.78). Elliot Dewlen finished fifth overall in the 1000 free (9:32.65).
“We are still gaining our racing experience for this year,” Geyer said of the men’s team. “I thought we should have been more physically prepared to race than we were and I put that on my shoulders. We know we are capable of better performances in the near future.”
The women’s team of Oquist, O’Neil, Carter and Troskot started off the morning with a second-place finish in the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:39.42.
The men’s team of Alex Linge, Gonzalez, Joao Mescolote and Greeff wrapped up the meet with a third-place finish in the 400 free relay (3:03.61).
The team takes next weekend off before hosting Incarnate Word at 11 a.m. on Nov. 15 in the LSU Natatorium. Admission to all home meets is free.
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