BATON ROUGE – The LSU swimming and diving team had another impressive day, with Lizzie Cui making the podium on one-meter springboard at the UT Diving Invitational, and Haylee Knight picking up her second win at the Art Adamson Invitational.
At the UT Diving Invitational, Lizzie Cui bounced back and made the final on the women’s one-meter springboard. After scoring 285.25 to finish fourth in the preliminaries, Cui executed a consistent list to score 318.20 and earn a bronze medal.
Aimee Wilson missed the finals by less than five points, finishing ninth overall with a score of 275.30.
Jolie Blodgett took 20th overall after scoring 242.65.
On the men’s side, Juan Celaya-Hernandez reached the three-meter finals after posting 418.70 in the preliminaries. In the finals, the junior finished strong to take fourth overall, scoring 389.05.
Dakota Hurbis scored 331.20 to finish 13th overall, while Matthew Phillip and Matt McClellan scored 316.45 and 311.75 to finish 16th an 17th overall, respectively.
“Today was very solid on all fronts,” explained diving head coach Doug Shaffer. “The top eight in both events make up very elite fields. There were six NCAA All-Americans in each of the finals, so to be competing at this level is great experience. Lizzie and Juan both competed well in their finals. Aimee just missed making the final, and Dakota just recorded his best performance at this level of competition. These are great building performances.”
At the Art Adamson Invitational, the men and women remain in second place. The women have 417 points, while the men have tallied 458.5 points.
The lone win of the night for the Tigers came on the women’s side, where Haylee Knight notched her second win of the invite, this time in the 100-yard butterfly, moving up to fourth on the all-time list with a time of 52.17 seconds.
Helen Grossman was right behind Knight, taking fourth overall, touching the wall at 53.55 seconds.
Cassie Kalisz and Natalie Kucsan also set new personal-best times, coming in at 55.95 and 56.75 seconds to finish 19th and 21st overall, respectively.
Summer Spradley also moved up on the all-time list in the 100-yard breaststroke, moving up to third all-time after swimming a time of 1:00.41 in the prelims. In the finals, Spradley swam a 1:00.71 to claim sixth overall.
Spradley was joined in the A-Final by Olivia Paskulin, who came in at 1:02.77 to finish eighth overall.
Freshman Allie McDaid won the B-Final with a personal-best time of 1:02.67, while junior Lauren Thompson also set a new personal-best, finishing 12th overall with a time of 1:03.13.
The women were also able to land four in the top-10 in the 400-yard IM. Brittany and Lauren Thompson set new personal-best times of 4:19.81 and 4:19.92 to take sixth and seventh overall, respectively.
Lexi Daniels finished eighth overall, touching the wall at 4:24.33, while Alexandria Ham took ninth overall with a time of 4:22.33.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Kit Hanley and Alyssa Helak set new personal-best times of 1:49.95 and 1:51.47 to finish 11th and 14th overall, respectively.
In the final individual event of the day, Kate Zimmer represented the Tigers in the A-Final, coming in 7th overall with a time of 54.69 seconds. Brittany Thompson set another personal-best as well, finishing 17th overall at 55.57 seconds.
In the relays, the women took second in the 200-yard medley relay as Zimmer, Spradley, Grossman, and Knight took silver with a time of 1:39.05, while Hanley, Horton, Henry, and Helak swam the 800-yard freestyle relay in 7:28.07 to take sixth overall.
The men’s best event of the day was the 100-backstroke, where the Tigers placed three men in the top-six.
Karl Luht led the way with a silver medal and a time of 47.19 seconds, and was joined by Matt Klotz and Thomas Smith, who swam times of 47.61 and 48.29 seconds to finish 4th and 6th overall, respectively. For Smith, it was a new personal-best time.
Freshman Miguel Velasquez also set a new personal-best, touching the wall in 49.80 seconds to take the C-Final.
Fellow freshman Gabe Parnell represented the Tigers in the 400-yard IM, and swam a personal-best 3:56.86 to finish 10th overall.
In the 200-yard freestyle, junior Lewis Clough notched another top-5 finish, coming in at 1:37.58 to finish 5th overall. Freshman Thomas Roark also set a new personal-best, finishing 15th overall with a time of 1:42.47.
The men were led by freshman Michael Petro in the 100-yard butterfly, who touched the wall in 48.49 seconds to finish seventh overall. Senior Harrison Jones won the B-Final in 47.09 seconds.
Luca Pfyffer impressed in the 100-yard breastroke, finishing fourth overall with a time of 53.97 seconds. Senior Mitchell Petras also set a personal-best time of 56.35 seconds in the B-Final to finish 13th overall.
The men made the podium in the 200-yard medley relay thanks to Clough, Luht, Pfyffer, and Klotz, taking bronze after touching the wall at 1:27.40. In the 800-yard freestyle relay, Clough was joined by Trent Schachter, Tyler Harper, and Keagan Finley to earn another bronze medal with a time of 6:37.38.
“The highlight of the night was definitely Haylee’s 100 fly,” said swimming head coach Dave Geyer. “That will put her right on the cusp of qualifying for NCAA’s, which is great in terms of our prep coming into this week. Across the board, we had a number of personal-best times on the women’s side, and on the men’s side, we had a great performance today with three men in the A-Final.”
The Tigers finish their competitions tomorrow, with events starting at 10 a.m.
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Wins:
100 fly- Haylee Knight (52.17)
Order of Events:
(Art Adamson Invitational)
Friday, November 16:
Mile
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
400 Free Relay
Prelims: 10:00 a.m.
Finals: 6:00 p.m.
UT Diving Invitational:
Friday, November 16:
Men’s/Women’s platform
Start time: 10:30 a.m.