AUBURN, Ala. – The LSU swimming and diving team closed out day three of the 2024 SEC Championships in an impressive fashion with diver Carson Paul earning a silver medal on three-meter springboard and swimmers lowering three school records inside the James E. Martin Aquatics Center at Auburn.
Paul opened the day in three-meter springboard prelims by finishing sixth with a score of 366.85. In the final, it was neck and neck throughout the entirety of the event. Ultimately, Paul took silver with a final score of 421.20.
Through day three at the conference meet, the LSU women are slotted in seventh place with 230 points, while the men hold sixth place with 266 points.
IN THE POOL
The men started the final session off strong by finishing sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:16.81, which narrowly missed the NCAA A cut by .01. The relay squad of Andrew Garon, Jere Hribar, Griffin Curtis, and Pawel Uryniuk broke the school record that had been in place since 2020.
The women got the final session underway before the men’s successful race by claiming sixth with a time of 1:28.64. Katarina Milutinovich led off the event with Michaela de Villiers, Megan Barnes, and Reagan Osborne flanking her in the final three legs. The quartet met the NCAA B standard with the time.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Jenna Bridges and Barnes qualified for the finals by finishing in the top 24. Bridges qualified for the B final by placing 16th at 4:45.28, while Barnes’ time was fast enough to put her in the C final. She claimed 22nd place with a time of 4:47.67.
In their respective finals, Bridges finished in seventh place with a time of 4:46.17 and Barnes placed fifth with a time of 4:46.08. Both times met the NCAA B standard.
Freshman Jovan Lekic finished in sixth place during prelims with a school record time in the 500-yard free (4:13.93), breaking Craig Hamilton’s 12-year-old record by nearly 6 seconds. Lekic qualified for the A final with his school record time and finished in eighth place in the A final with a time of 4:15.70. His prelim and final time cleared the NCAA B standard.
Silas Beth and Jacob Pishko also qualified for the finals in the 500 free. Both qualified for the C final with respective times of 4:19.64 & 4:20.27 – two NCAA B cuts. Beth won the C final with a time of 4:16.15 – the second-fastest time in LSU history behind Lekic’s time from the morning session.
Chloe Cheng qualified for the C final in the 200-yard IM after placing 20th with a time of 1:58.95. In the final session, she improved her time to 1:58.81 and jumped into the LSU top 10 for the event at No.9.
In the 200-yard IM, Curtis broke the second school record of the prelims session by lowering the program record to 1:44.64. He did it again in the consolation final by touching the wall fourth with a time of 1:44.21 to further improve his school record.
For the 50-yard free, Milutinovich and de Villiers qualified for the C final with respective times of 22.60 & 22.64. De Villiers finished first in the final by clocking a time of 22.36, which moved her up on the all-time top 10 list for the event to No. 7. Milutinovich placed seventh with a time of 22.56.
Hribar qualified for the A final in the 50-free with a time of 18.99. He is the second Tiger to clear 19 seconds, joining Brooks Curry. In the final, Hribar finished seventh with a time of 19.01.
ON THE BOARDS
On Wednesday, the men competed on the three-meter springboard with the prelims beginning around noon. Paul, Zayne Danielewicz, and Thomas Dowling represented LSU well with Paul advancing to the championship final after claiming sixth place in prelims with a score of 366.85.
Danielewicz had a strong outing in prelims, placing 12th to earn a spot in the consolation final. He finished eighth with a score of 289.00. Dowling claimed 27th place with a score of 273.40.
EVENT ESSENTIALS
All meet information, including schedules, tickets, heat sheets/results, streaming links, parking, and fan policies, can be found on the 2024 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships Central page.
Every session of the meet will be streamed on SEC Network+, and fans can follow along with live results by using the Meet Mobile app.
Here’s the daily schedule along with watch links:
EVENT SCHEDULE (CST)
Thursday, Feb. 22 – Prelims at 9:30 a.m. (Watch Live) | Finals at 5:30 p.m. (Watch Live)
Women’s 1-meter
400 IM
100 fly
200 Free
Friday, Feb. 23 – Prelims at 9:30 a.m. (Watch Live) | Finals at 5:30 p.m. (Watch Live)
Men’s Platform
200 Fly
100 Back
100 Breast
400 Medley Relay
Saturday, Feb. 24 – Prelims at 9:30 a.m. (Watch Live) | Finals at 5:30 p.m. (Watch Live)
Women’s Platform
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
400 Free Relay