BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU Swimming and Diving team fell to Tennessee in the final home dual meet of the season by a score of 159-135 on the women’s side and 184.5-106.5 for the men. Kara Kopcso led the squad with three wins. The sophomore swept the fly events and won the 400 IM.
“She has had a good few weeks of training,” LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “She responds differently than other people so she is always able to compete at a high level. It’s right about where we expected her to be at this point.”
The Lady Tigers team of Caley Oquist, Colleen O’Neil, Kopcso and Amber Carter led off with a close 200-medley relay and finished second. Carter swam a 22.54 50 free split to close the gap.
The men’s team of Brandon Goldman, Silas Dejean, Frank Greeff and Marco Gonzalez led off with a third-place finish in the 200-medley relay (1:30.59).
Carter touched the wall in three events against the 50 free (22.98), 100 free (50.96) and 100 fly (54.28). Fellow senior Greeff finished second in the 100 fly (49.49) and 200 fly (1:48.57).
Juniors Megan Cox and Oquist each won an event for the women’s team. Cox took first in the 200 free (1:48.58). Oquist touched the wall first in the 100 back (54.68) and finished third in the 200 back (1:58.63).
O’Neil touched the wall third in the 100 breast (1:03.26) and the 200 breast (2:19.78). Danielle Stirrat finished third in the 100 back (56.78) and Jessie James finished third in the 1000 free (10:27.05)
Three men finished second in the meet, Logan Rysemus in the 100 back (50.39), Dejean in the 100 breast (56.47) and Alex Linge in the 100 free (45.34). Grant Grenfell and Devin McCaffrey also finished third in the 100 back (50.90) and 50 free (20.73) respectively.
Goldman and House each finished third in two events. Goldman posted times of 1:50.26 in the 200 back and 1:50.36 in the 200 fly. House finished with times of 2:03.38 in the 200 breast and 57.18 in the 100 breast.
“We were definitely sharper than we were last week,” Geyer added. “We could have made some modifications to our schedule and swam faster. Our goal though is to swim fast at the end of the season. Our men battled harder in the second half of the meet and threw down some better times.”
On the diving side, Alex Bettridge finished first on one-meter with a score of 317.93. The senior also finished third on three-meter (293.10). Cassie Weil won three-meter with a score of 307.80 and also finished second on one-meter (278.03).
“We had some good performances today,” LSU Diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “We weren’t as consistent nor did we compete as well as we need to going forward with the season. Overall, I am pleased. We had some rocky spots, and I think there were some places we could have done better.”
Senior Daniel Helm tied for second on three-meter with a score of 356.33. Helm also finished third on one-meter (321.90).
To finish the meet, the team of Oquist, Leah Troskot, Cox and Stirrat finished second in the 200 free relay (1:34.92). The team of Gonzalez, McCaffrey, Linge and Greeff also finished second for the men with a time of 1:22.64.
The LSU Swimming and Diving team takes the week off from competition before traveling to College Station, Texas to take on the Aggies on Saturday, Jan. 24.
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.