COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Sophomore Kara Kopcso set the school record in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:12.23 on day two of the Art Adamson Invitational. Kopcso’s record-breaking time is the second of the midseason meet for the Lady Tigers.
“After Kara’s 200 IM we knew there was the potential for her to have a great swim in the 400 today. She put together a great race and was able to come right under our team record,” LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said.
The LSU women’s team goes into the final day of competition in third place behind Texas A&M and Stanford with 441 points. The men’s team sits in second place behind Stanford with 410 points.
“Our meet is getting better as the sessions move one,” Geyer added. “We are way ahead of where we were last year at this time and that is really promising for the second part of our season. We had a number of season and lifetime bests today, and we look forward to carry that momentum into our final day.”
For the divers, Alex Bettridge led off day two with a second-place finish on one-meter with a score of 314.65. In addition to Bettridge, Cassie Weil finished fifth (295.20), Allie Alter finished sixth (275.70) and Madison Sthamann finished eighth (268.60)
“We had a really solid performance,” LSU Diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “The women’s one-meter was a really competitive event. There were five girls who were right at the 300 mark in points, which is really solid list in competitors.”
On the men’s side, Daniel Helm finished fourth on three-meter with a score of 370.85. Andrew Suchla also finished 11th with a final score of 261.
“For the men, I think Andrew struggled a little bit and got out of place on one of his dives,” Shaffer said. “Daniel threw a pretty solid list and he’s definitely making progress in the right direction. We are really excited for tomorrow to perform on platform.”
LSU’s team of Caley Oquist, Colleen O’Neil, Amber Carter and Leah Troskot led off with a third-place finish in the 200-medley relay (1:38.87). The men’s team of Logan Rysemus, Silas Dejean, Frank Greeff and Marco Gonzalez finished second in the medley relay event with a time of 1:27.98.
Kopcso’s record-breaking time was enough for fourth in the championship final of the 400 IM. Sophie Weber also touched the wall sixth in the championship final with a time of 4:17.28.
Brandon Goldman also reached the championship final of the 400 IM. The sophomore finished fourth with a season-best time of 3:53.63.
Carter posted another personal-best time at midseason. This time it was in the 100 fly (52.33) for a second-place finish in the championship final. Also in the 100 fly, Kate Zimmer finished fourth in the ‘D’ final with a time of 56.20.
Three men qualified for the championship final of the 100 fly. Rysemus led the way for the Tigers in fourth place (47.95). Greeff (48.36) and Alex Linge (48.59) followed in fifth and sixth place.
Six Lady Tigers reached the finals of the 200 free. Megan Cox finished fourth in the ‘B’ final with a time of 1:47.60. In the ‘C’ final, Devon Dabney (1:48.85) finished fourth and Troskot (1:49.33) finished fifth. Stacey Stanfield posted a personal-best time of 1:48.42 on her way to the win in the ‘D’ final.
In the men’s 200 free, Greeff touched the wall fifth in the ‘B’ final with a time of 1:39.47. Elliot Dewlen, Matthew Schaefer and Braydon Bergeron also grabbed the four through six spots in the ‘D’ final.
O’Neil finished second in the ‘B’ final of the 100 breast with a time of 1:01.76. Taryn MacKenzie also took home the win in the ‘C’ final with a time of 1:03.28.
Dejean touched the wall second in the championship final of the 100 breast with a time of 54.30. In the ‘C’ final, Devin McCaffrey (57.29) finished second and Garrett House (57.68) finished fourth. Ryan Cade also finished third in the ‘D’ final with a time of 58.95.
The LSU women had a strong showing in the 100 back by winning two out of four finals. Kate Zimmer (56.15) touched the wall first in the ‘D’ final and Danielle Stirrat (53.90) touched the wall first in the ‘C’ final. Oquist also finished sixth in the championship final with a time of 53.49.
Day two concluded the individual events with the men’s 100 back. Rysemus finished fourth in the championship final with a time of 49.01 and Young finished seventh with a time of 49.29. Grant Grenfell also won the ‘C’ final with a time of 50.04.
To conclude the session, LSU’s team of Cox, Stirrat, Kopcso and Troskot finished fourth overall in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:16.51. The men’s team of Linge, Damen Pheiffer, Jake Markham and Greeff finished fourth with a time of 6:35.65.
The Art Adamson Invitational concludes tomorrow with the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 freestyle relay. Diving also concludes on platform.
A full recap will be available on lsusports.net at the conclusion of each day. For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter @LSUswimdive.
ORDER OF EVENTS
Women events are odd numbers and men events are even numbers
Saturday:
29/30: Platform Diving
31/32: 1650 Freestyle
33/34: 200 Backstroke
35/36: 100 Freestyle
37/38: 200 Breaststroke
39/40: 200 Butterfly
41/42: 400 Freestyle Relay