Baton Rouge – The LSU Swimming and Diving team swam hard, but fell to the No. 4/19 Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday morning for Senior Day. The men fell by a final score of 182-113 and the women fell by a score of 191.5-105.5.
LSU will be back in action January 31 through February 1 as they will hit the road and head to Houston to face off against Houston and Rice.
IN THE POOL
For the men, Lewis Clough was the only Tiger to claim the gold in an event, as the senior did so in the 100-Yard Butterfly with a time of 48.38. Clough also finished in third place in the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:37.31. Brooks Curry notched two second place finished as he swam a 20.24 in the 50-Yard Free and a 1:37.31 in the 200-Yard Free. Senior Keagan Finley claimed the silver in two events. He swam a 4:35.11 in the 500-Yard Free to finish second and a 9:29.77 in the 1000-Yard Free. Karl Lut, another senior for the Tigers, also finished second in two events. He touched the wall in 47.49 in the 100-Yard Back and 1:50.95 in the 200-Yard Back.
Also for the men, Luca Pfyffer notched two third place finishes as the junior swam a 56.08 in the 100-Yard Breast and a 2:02.59 in the 200-Yard Breast. Migeuel Velasquez also notched two third place finishes by swimming the 100-Yard Back in 50.28 and the 200-Yard Back in 1:51.91. Ben Hooper finished in second place in the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 1:50.79 and third place in the 100-Yard Fly with a time of 49.39. In the 400-Yard IM, Julian Norman and Isak Vikstrom finished in second and third place with times of 4:07.05 and 4:07.72. Vikstrom also finished in third place in the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:38.25.
For the women, Cassie Kalisz won the 200-Yard Backstroke for the seventh time this season as she touched the wall in 1:58.96. In the 100-Yard Back, Kalisz finished in third place with a time of 55.63. Helen Grossman finished in second place in 100-Yard Fly with a time of 54.85. The senior also finished in third place in the 200-Yard Fly with a time of 2:01.23. Katarina Milutinovich notched two second place finishes as the freshman touched the wall in 51.31 in the 100-Yard Free and 1:49.22 in the 200-Yard Free.
Summer Stanfield and Niamh Robinson finished second and third in the 200-Yard IM with times of 2:03.00 and 2:06.33. Stanfield also finished in third place in the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:57.07. Robinson would go on to finish in third place in the 200-Yard Breast with a time of 2:15.99. Olivia Taylor finished third in the 50-Yard Free with a time of 23.55.
“Looking at the team, we are tired,” said LSU head swim coach Dave Geyer. “However, I think that is alright. We did not hide anything about what this tough two week stretch would be like, especially Florida State last night and Texas A&M today. We knew it would be an emotional and physical toll. I just think we were emotionally tired from yesterday’s intense meet and it showed a little bit. At the same time, if you compare this dual meet against our dual meets from early in the season, the results are right in line. To still be able to compete at a high level and be close to season best times is a big positive.”
“As for the seniors, we still have a lot of racing to do and there are bigger goals out there for them,” continued Coach Geyer. “They still have goals they want to accomplish as far as the SEC and NCAA Championships are concerned. Up to this point though, their contributions have been great. Just by looking at school records, top-times, NCAA qualifiers and so on, it has been a great class and what we expected from them when we recruited them. We’re happy for them but we still have some unfinished business.”
ON THE BOARDS
For the women, Aimee Wilson won the one-meter for the second day in a row. Today, she dove to a score of 300.08 to take the top spot. On three-meter, the sophomore dove to a score of 310.80 to finish in second place. Anne Tuxen dove to a score of 262.35 on one-meter to finish in fifth place and 275.93 to finish in fourth place on three-meter. Hayley Montague dove to a score of 251.03 on three-meter to finish in sixth place and 226.20 on one-meter to finish in seventh place.
On the men’s side, Manny Vazquez Bas dove to a score of 362.10 on three-meter to finish in second place. He dove to a score of 304.80 on one-meter to finish in fourth place. Dakota Hurbis dove to a score of 309.75 on one-meter to finish in third place and 335.18 on three-meter to finish in fourth place.
“I am proud of the accomplishments of the divers over the weekend,” said LSU head diving coach Doug Shaffer. “I expected today to be harder coming off of the Florida State meet last night. Although we were a bit inconsistent today, the challenge of going back-to-back days is important preparation looking ahead to our championship season. I also want to congratulate and thank the seniors who have represented our program well during their careers.”
MORE INFORMATION
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