Columbia, Mo. – Freshman Matt Phillip posted a score of 357.20 for sixth place on platform on day four of the 2016 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Mizzou Aquatic Center
Needing a score of 65.2 or better to remain in sixth place, Phillip earned a score of 80 on his back hand stand to notch 23 points for the Tigers. The Frisco, Texas native was one of only three divers to score an 80 in the finals of platform. In prelims, Phillip earend a 360.05 for the fourth-highest platform score in school history.
“We were on task today,” LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “I knew that all three of the men could score on platform and that we had a chance to get in the finals. Matthew Philip was hungry and put together some of his best dives of the season to qualify for finals. This is what we train for. It was great to see everything come together.”
For the second day in a row, junior Logan Rysemus set a school record and reached the championship final at SEC’s. Rysemus set the school record in prelims of the 100 back and returned for finals with a fourth-place showing. During finals, Rysemus tied the school record set in prelims.
Rysemus broke the 12-year old school record set by Evan Martinec (46.23). Rysemus became the first swimmer in school history to go less than 46 seconds in the 100 back. The Tacoma, Washington native is the first Tiger in school history to go sub-46 in both the 100 fly and 100 back.
Junior Kara Kopcso broke the school record in the 200 fly with a time of 1:54.46 for fourth in the championship final. Kopcso set the original record last season at NCAA Championships, a time of 1:55.01.
“Kara put together a great 200 fly tonight,” Geyer said. “We knew that to go 1:54 we had to have three 29 splits in there and she had great execution in the race.”
All three entries from the women’s team returned for finals in the 100 breast and set personal bests in the event. Colleen O’Neil set the second-fastest time in school history during prelims of the 100 breast (59.86) and became just the second woman in school history to finish in less than a minute in the event. O’Neil finished sixth in the championship final with a time of 59.99.
In the ‘B’ final of the 100 breast, senior Taryn MacKenzie finished second with a time of 1:00.66. MacKenzie set a personal-best time of 1:00.63 in prelims. Freshman Summer Spradley touched the wall first in the ‘C’ final of the 100 breast with a time of 1:01.83 for the sixth-fastest time in school history.
“Our women’s breaststroke core had a great day today,” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “As a freshman, for Summer (Spradley) to step up and win that C console is great for her development. Taryn (MacKenzie) was just off the A final but got a huge personal best that puts her right on the cusp of making NCAA’s. Colleen then got into that elusive sub-minute club twice with her swims, which was big.”
In the ‘c’ final of the 200 fly, Senior Megan Cox swam a personal best 1:58.64.
LSU freshmen Alarii Levreault-Lopez and Harrison Jones earned night swims after setting personal bests in prelims of the 200 fly. Levreault-Lopez finished eighth in the ‘B’ final and his prelim time of 1:45.42 is third-fastest time in school history. Jones touched the wall second in the ‘C’ final of the event with the fourth-fastest time in school history (1:45.56).
Senior Danielle Stirrat reached the ‘B’ final of the 100 back and finished eighth in the event with a time of 54.08. Stirrat’s time of 53.80 in prelims was a season best and just .05 seconds from setting a personal best. Caley Oquist swam a season-best time of 53.53 in a first-place finish in the ‘C’ final of the 100 back.
In the final individual swimming event of the night, Silas Dejean finished fifth and Garrett House finished eighth in the ‘C’ final of the 100 breast. Dejean earned a time of 54.74 and House finished in 55.13.
The LSU men closed the day with a school record in the 400-medley relay. Rysemus, Silas Dejean, Alex Linge and Jake Markham finished seventh in the event with a time of 3:08.49.
After 31 events, the LSU are in a three-way tie for eighth place with Texas A&M and Kentucky at 418 points. The Tigers are just 14 points shy of South Carolina in seventh place. The Lady Tigers are in seventh place after four days with 482 points and just 25 away from Florida in sixth place.
Live results can be found at http://stats.mutigers.com/live/sec/ throughout the week’s events. Live video of both swimming and diving prelims and finals will be available on SECNetwork+ (Watch ESPN) each day.
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.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, February 20
100 Freestyle (Prelims)- 10 a.m.
200 Backstroke (Prelims)
200 Breaststroke (Prelims)
Women’s Platform (Prelims)- 12 p.m.
1650 Freestyle (Finals)- 6 p.m.
100 Freestyle (Final)
200 Backstroke (Final)
200 Breaststroke (Final)
Women’s Platform (Final)
400 Freestyle Relay
*All times listed in CT.