BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU swimming and diving team heads to Bryan-College Station, Texas, Saturday to take on Texas A&M in the final regular season dual meet of the season before championship season gets started in mid-February. The scheduled start time is 10:00 a.m. CT.
The women’s swimming and diving squad received a second consecutive ranking in the CSCAA poll, which placed them at No. 22. In December, the poll had the Tigers ranked at No. 25. Led by LSU swimmer Maggie MacNeil and LSU diver Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant, the Tigers look to find their stride heading into the 2023 SEC Championships, which occur in the Rec Center Natatorium – the final site of competition in the regular season.
“This is our last opportunity to compete before we head into the postseason, and I can’t think of a better way to finish our dual meet season,” head diving coach Drew Livingston said. “Texas A&M is consistently one of the best programs in the SEC and to compete on the road against the Aggies at the site of next month’s SEC Championships will be a great chance for our Tigers to get ready for the bright lights of the postseason. We’ve been training hard and we’ll be ready for this opportunity and all of the rest to come.”
In addition to the rising women’s team, the men’s team members include defending national champion Brooks Curry. He and his teammates are looking to swim faster down the stretch and achieve NCAA qualifying times heading into postseason swims.
Heading into the final meet of the regular season, LSU holds several B standard times. MacNeil alone owns three individual times that book her trip to Knoxville. Alongside MacNeil, Michaela de Villiers, Peyton Curry and Katarina Milutinovich qualified in the 200-yard medley relay with an A cut time at the 2022 Art Adamson Invitational.
The meet’s live stats can be found on the MeetMobile app. Diving-specific live stats are available on divemeets.com.
The dual can also be streamed on SEC Network+. Launch the ESPN app or click the following link: lsul.su/3R9V1MB.
LAST TIME OUT
The LSU women’s swimming and diving team closed out the 2022-23 home meet schedule with a 180.5-119.5 victory against Florida State inside the LSU Natatorium.
The LSU men fell to the Seminoles with a final score of 120-180.
The Tigers started the meet strong with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:39.62. The relay team of Maggie MacNeil, Hannah Womer, Hannah Bellina and Katarina Milutinovich took first place in the event.
In the distance events, Jolee Liles came out victorious in the 1000-yard free with a time of 10:01.87, while Jenna Bridges won the 500-yard free with a time of 4:59.27. For the early speed events, LSU won both 200-yard free events and the 100-yard back. Megan Barnes and Andrew Garon finished the 200-free with respective times of 1:49.56 and 1:37.88.
Freshman Ella Varga placed first in the 100-back with a time of 55.30. Varga also claimed first place in the 200-back with a time of 1:57.40.
Before the first diving break, both MacNeil and Brooks Curry took first place in the 50-yard free with respective times of 22.17 and 19.57. Following it, Curry also won the 100-yard free with a time of 43.61 and Milutinovich took first place with a time of 50.79.
On the tail end of the meet, LSU picked up five additional wins in the 500-yard free, 100-yard fly, 200-yard IM and both 400-yard free relays.
Bridges won the 500-free with a time of 4:59.27. MacNeil claimed first in the 100-fly with a time of 52.01. Hannah Womer came out victorious in the 200-IM with a time of 2:02.61.
In winning both 400-yard free relays, the LSU men broke an LSU Natatorium pool record with a time of 2:54.76.
For the divers, Chiara Pellacani and Zayne Danielewicz both nabbed a win. On three-meter, Pellacani finished with a score of 353.33. Danielewicz claimed first on the one-meter springboard, finishing with a score of 344.40. Carson Paul, on the same event, finished right behind Danielewicz with a score of 325.20.
On the women’s one-meter and men’s three-meter, three Tigers finished in the top three.