BATON ROUGE, La. – On an emotional day with the LSU swimming and diving senior class being recognized, the men and women fell to the No. 23/22 Texas A&M Aggies. The men’s score was very close at 146-154, while the women lost by a score of 111.5-181.5.
Brooks Curry, who won the 50-yard free and 100-yard free, broke his own pool record in the 50-free with a time of 19.42. His previous record was set during the opening meet of the 2021-22 season versus Grand Canyon, finishing with a time of 19.51.
“It was a great day for our seniors,” head swimming coach Rick Bishop said. “Our seniors swam great. They showed a lot of energy, a lot of emotion, and they race really hard. On both sides, men and women, we performed great. We performed as well as we could. Our men kept us in the meet the whole way, our swimmers and divers. Top to bottom ended up winning both relays for the men’s performances. On the women’s side, we’re fighting all the way through, and our women are making great progress. Exciting times as we’re getting ready for SEC’s. Geaux Tigers!”
IN THE POOL
To start the senior day competition off, the ‘A’ relays for the men and women placed in the top-2 with the men claiming first with a time of 1:27.92 and the women finishing in second place with a time of 1:41.19.
In the long-distance event of the day, Allison Tomsuden and Isak Vikstrom finished in the top-3 for the 1000-yard free. Tomsuden touched the wall and claimed a time of 10:20.80, while Vikstrom had a 9:35.47 time.
Following the 1000-yard free was the 200-yard free, which consisted of Katarina Milutinovich finishing second with a time of 1:50.25 and Ryan Warmbier nabbing third for the men with a time of 1:40.64.
In the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke events, the Tigers had six top-3 finishes, as Emilie Boll claimed first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.77. Right behind her on the event was Jadyn Jannasch finishing in third place. For the men, Griffin Curtis and Kevin Glenn finished second and third, respectively, on the 100-yard back with times of 49.47 and 50.07. Mitch Mason (2nd) and Aaron Parrott (3rd) followed suit with the same placements in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing with times of 54.66 and 54.74.
For the 200-fly, freshman Gavin Rogers nabbed the first win of his premiere season, finishing with a time of 1:49.76, while Hannah Bellina finished third with a time of 2:01.41.
In the 50-yard free, alongside Curry’s record, Jack Jannasch and Spencer Adrian placed second and third with respective times of 20.59 and 21.17. On the women’s side, Natalie Kucsan finished with a third-place finish and a time of 23.83.
In the 100-yard free, Milutinovich nabbed another second-place finish and Curry claimed another win with a time of 43.76. In the backstroke events, Curtis finished second for the second time on Saturday with a time of 1:47.83.
For the 500-free, Warmbier one-upped his performance in the 1000-free with a second-finish, netting a time of 4:32.96. In the 100-yard fly, Emil Hassling placed first with a time of 49.63 and Bellina claimed second place with a time of 56.16.
The men and women both were able to finish the meet off with wins in the 4×100 yard freestyle relay. The women finished with a time of 3:24.40, and the men had a time of 2:57.96.
ON THE BOARDS
LSU divers swept the springboard events against the Aggies, as both 2020 Tokyo Olympians, Juan Celaya-Hernandez and Tiger newcomer Chiara Pellacani both nabbed wins on the one-meter and three-meter.
In her first competitive experience in the purple and gold, Pellacani finished with a first-place score of 315.45 on the one-meter and 350.70 on the three-meter. Celaya-Hernandez continued to be the definition of consistency, claiming a first-place finish on the one-meter with a score of 388.95 and on the three-meter with a score of 447.15.
“It was great having the Aggies in the Natatorium for our final dual meet going into the SEC Championships,” head diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “Couldn’t be more pleased with what the diving squad did today. It was the first opportunity for Chiara Pellacani and to step into the competitive SEC and have a fabulous performance on the boards, I couldn’t be happier. We got some work to do moving forward, but we’re definitely in the right direction of what we want to see.”
Additionally, for the Tigers, Helle Tuxen and Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant placed fourth and fifth respectively on the one-meter with scores of 283.80 and 276.68. For the men, Adrian Abadia placed fifth with a score of 307.73 and Zayne Danielewicz placed sixth with a score of 282.53.
On the three-meter, Maggie Buckley finished in fourth place with a score of 307.35, while Tuxen finished in fifth place with a score of 298.50 and Gutierrez Lavenant placed sixth with a score of 288.53. For the men, Abadia claimed second place with a score of 401.70 and Danielewicz finished in fifth place with a final score of 334.35.
LSU will begin their preparations right away for the SEC Championships in mid-February when the Tigers travel to Knoxville for the start of the vaunted postseason stretch.