LSU Gold

Men Sweep SMU and Loyola

by Chris Heigle
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Men Sweep SMU and Loyola

BATON ROUGE– The LSU men’s swimming and diving team came out on top of both SMU and Loyola on Saturday. LSU defeated SMU 186-101 and Loyola 234-41.

“We took a gamble in the first relay and split guys up in order to try and go 1-2, and they were able to execute,” said swimming head coach Dave Geyer. “Sven got good swims in and is progressing well. SMU pushed us in some tight races in the front half of the meet, and it really got our guys going. Lewis with three individual wins and his first 200-yard butterfly win, had a great performance today. We had the ability to move some people around, but we also came out with a pretty strong lineup to make sure we’re staying competitive as well.”

“We have a good two weeks of training before midseason, and it’s about the details,” said Geyer. “We’ve been a little off, so we have to fine-tune some things and stay disciplined in training.”

The men got off to a hot start, winning 9 of the first 10 events as they went on to win a total of 14 events.

Karl Luht, Luca Pfyffer, Trent Schachter, and Jack Jannasch took the first gold medal of the day in the 200-yard medley relay, combining for a time of 1:30.49. 

Sven Saemundsson followed up the relay with a win the 1000-yard freestyle, coming in at 9:33.52. The junior also won the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best 4:36.59.

The men then won seven consecutive events to take control of the meet.

Matt Klotz started the win streak with a gold medal in the 100-yard backstroke, coming in at a time of 48.96 seconds.

Lewis Clough won 3 individual events during the meet. The junior won the 200-yard butterfly, 100-yard butterfly, and 100-yard freestyle with times of 1:50.19, 49.29 seconds, and 45.14 seconds, respectively.

Sophomore Luca Pfyffer won two individual events on the day, winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.45 seconds, and the last individual event of the day, the 200-yard IM, touching the wall at 1:51.71. 

Karl Luht proved the the best sprinter of the day, winning the 50-yard freestyle, coming in at 20.80 seconds.

Thomas Smith remained undefeated in the 200-yard backstroke, posting a season-best 1:46.18 to take first place.

The swimmers finished the meet with a thrilling comeback in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with Luht, Klotz, Jack Jannasch, and Trent Schachter winning with a time of 3:00.68.

Without three-time SEC Champion Juan Celaya-Hernandez, the divers were still able to sweep the podium on both springboards. Senior Matthew Phillip finished both events in first place, scoring 326.70 and 355.43 on one-meter and three-meter respectively.

Senior Matt McClellan took third on one-meter and second on three-meter after scoring 304.58 and 316.13, respectively, while sophomore Dakota Hurbis finished second on one-meter with a score of 318.68 and third on three-meter, diving to a score of 314.25.

“Leaving out Juan today was a coaching choice based on where he is with fatigue and stuff like that, so it was a move made in the best interest of the big picture,” said diving head coach Doug Shaffer. “It gave Matthew, Matt, and Dakota an opportunity to compete head-to-head, and they competed well. I like the way they stepped up on both boards. We’re on track to where we want to be. It’s good that these early dual-meets are over so we can focus on getting into an invitational format with our training.

Next up for the men is the Art Adamson Invitational in College Station, TX for the swimmers and the UT Diving Invitational in Austin, TX for the divers. Both events are November 14-16.

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