AUBURN, Ala. – The LSU swimming and diving team completed day four of the 2024 SEC Championships inside the James E. Martin Aquatics Center with diver Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant earning a bronze on one-meter and swimmers recording 10 NCAA B cuts on the University of Auburn’s campus.
Lavenant opened the day on one-meter prelims by earning the top seed with a score of 314.35. She went into the championship final and earned the bronze medal, her second of the conference meet overall, with a score of 310.55.
Through day four at the conference meet, the LSU women are slotted in sixth place with 337 points, while the men hold sixth place with 293 points.
IN THE POOL
To begin day four, the Tigers competed in the 400-yard IM prelims with Chloe Cheng and freshman Helen Sava qualifying for the C final with respective times of 4:18.66 and 4:19.00. In the final session, Cheng clocked an NCAA B standard time by finishing third with a time of 4:16.50.
For the men in the same event, while not qualifying for the finals, Joel Thompson moved up the LSU all-time list for the event by finishing with a time of 3:50.14. The time was fast enough to place him in the No. 4 slot overall in program history and was under the NCAA B standard.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Jenna Bridges and Sofia Sartori both qualified for the C final. Bridges placed 18th with a time of 52.99, while Sartori claimed 24th place with a time of 53.16. Bridges’ prelim time was good enough for ninth in LSU history. Both of their times cleared the NCAA B standard. In the finals, Bridges and Sartori finished seventh and eighth, respectively, with times of 53.05 and 53.37.
Megan Barnes and Reagan Osborne both qualified for the consolation final in the 200-yard freestyle by placing in the top 16. Barnes and Osborne qualified with respective prelims times of 1:45.26 and 1:45.86. Additionally, Katarina Milutinovich’s time of 1:46.52 qualified her for the evening session’s C final.
Barnes broke the LSU school record in the final after clocking a time of 1:44.39. The time met the NCAA B standard. Osborne recorded a B standard time in the final, and Milutinovich did so in the prelim session.
In the men’s 200-yard freestyle, three Tigers qualified for the finals with Andrew Garon swimming in the C final and Karlo Pericinic and Jovan Lekic racing in the B final. Garon finished eighth with a time of 1:36.22. In the B final, Lekic finished fourth with a time of 1:34.06 and Percinic touched the wall eighth with a time of 1:35.98.
Lekic’s prelim time in the 200-free of 1:34.01 cleared the NCAA B standard and was fast enough to place him at No. 3 in program history. Garon (1:35.30) and Percinic (1:34.74) recorded B cuts with their prelim swims.
ON THE BOARDS
On Thursday, the women competed on the one-meter springboard with the prelims beginning around noon. Lavenant, Helle Tuxen, and Maggie Buckley represented LSU well with Lavenant and Tuxen advancing to the championship final after claiming first and sixth place in prelims with respective scores of 314.35 and 271.95.
Buckley had a strong outing in prelims, placing 15th to earn a spot in the consolation final. She finished third with a score of 268.10.
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)
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