LSU Falls to A&M in Senior Meet; Freshman Silas Beth Breaks School Record
BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU swimming and diving team returned to action as a tandem Saturday, welcoming Texas A&M to the LSU Natatorium for the penultimate dual meet of the season, ultimately falling to the Aggies in the women’s and men’s respective meets.
Twelve athletes competed in their final meet inside the home confines of the LSU Natatorium. Before racing began, each senior ran through a tunnel made by their teammates and met their families at the end to collect congratulations and flowers. Following the senior day ceremony, LSU began the meet with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay on the men’s side.
The relay team of Griffin Curtis, Mitch Mason, Pawel Uryniuk, and Jere Hribar broke the LSU Natatorium pool record with a time of 1:25.69. Hribar split 18.77 on the final leg of the race swimming the freestyle.
Freshman Silas Beth, who joined the program this semester, impressed immediately in his first meet at a Tiger. Beth opened his collegiate career in the 1000-yard freestyle by breaking the school record held by Craig Hamilton since 2012. Beth clocked a time of 8:56.50 beating out Hamilton’s 8:57.90.
Beth also jumped into the LSU top 10 for the 500-yard freestyle by placing second with a time of 4:21.56. His time ranks No. 6 in the LSU record books for the event.
Team captain and senior Mitch Mason finished the meet with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 52.76. He also claimed second place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:56.17.
LSU quickly went on a streak, winning six of the next seven events that began with Jacob Pishko claiming first in the 200-yard fly with a time of 1:46.09. Michaela de Villiers and Jere Hribar both won the 50-yard freestyle with respective times of 22.98 and 19.64. In the diving well, senior Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant came away with the win on one meter with a score of 305.55. Lavenant swept the springboard events with another win on three meter and a score of 330.23.
Additionally, senior Katarina Milutinovich (50.41) and Hribar (43.27) won the 100-yard freestyle.
The Tigers have a quick turnaround as LSU heads to Knoxville to battle SEC foe Tennessee on Saturday, January 27. The meet is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT.