BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU women’s swimming team set three pool records and lead Houston, Rice and Tulane after the first day of the quad meet.
The Lady Tigers 200-medley relay team of Caley Oquist, Colleen O’Neil, Amber Carter, and Leah Troskot set the pool record with a time of 1:39.19. It broke the previous record set by Tennessee this season.
Kara Kopcso also broke 17-year old LSU Natatorium records in the 100 fly and 200 IM. The sophomore finished with a career-best time of 52.91 in the 100 fly. Kopcso also finished with a time of 1:59.57 in the 200 IM.
“We set a challenge out to the women over the past few days to see if we could break some records on the board,” LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “It was a way to start off with some rhythm and it was exciting. For Kara to knock off some pretty old pool records was good movement toward the end of the season.”
Alex Bettridge swept the springboard events for the second consecutive week. The senior posted a score of 302.25 on one-meter and a score of 304 on three-meter. Cassie Weil also finished second on one-meter (285.60). Madison Sthamann finished third on three-meter (291).
“There were some things that we did really well,” LSU Diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “At this point in the season we haven’t put everything together and we aren’t peaking. I don’t expect us to peak so we have a mixed bag of performances today. We didn’t dive to our potential. I believe good things are going to happen though.
Freshman Jane MacDougall finished first in the 1000 free with a time of 10:00.21. It was the third-fastest time in LSU Swimming history. Jessie James also finished third with a time of 10:14.15.
“We’ve ben waiting for her the whole year,” Geyer added. “It paid off and it was exciting to have that breakthrough swim. It gives her confidence during the rest period and going to conference to know that speed will be there.”
Katlin Sepp and Danielle Stirrat provided a solid 1-2 effort in the 100 back with times of 55.21 and 56.47. Devon Dabney finished second in the 200 free with a time of 1:50.38.
O’Neil added a second-place finish in the 200 breast (2:17.85). She was followed in third by Taryn MacKenzie with a time of 2:22.81.
Carter and Troskot also went 2-3 in the 50 free with times of 23.38 and 23.47 respectively.
The team of Carter, Troskot, Danielle Stirrat and Caley Oquist then wrapped up day one with a win in the 400 freestyle relay (3:24.39).
“Going into tomorrow we have to match the excitement and enthusiasm that we had this evening,” Geyer added. “This matches what we have at conference. It’s going to be important to return tomorrow morning with some fast times.”
The Lady Tigers return to action at 11 a.m. for the final day of competition. Fans are encouraged to “Pack the Nat” and the first 200 fans will receive t-shirts.
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