LSU Concludes 2024 SEC Championships With Platform Silver & NCAA A Cut
AUBURN, Ala. – The LSU swimming and diving team concluded the 2024 edition of the SEC Championships Saturday inside the James E. Martin Aquatics Center with Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant’s third podium finish, plus one A cut in the 400-yard freestyle relay and 11 B cuts in the pool on the University of Auburn’s campus.
Lavenant, who claimed gold on three-meter and bronze on one-meter, went into the platform championship final as the seventh seed and went on to take silver in the event. She finished with a final score of 304.80 and medaled in each diving discipline.
Lavenant was named the Female Diver of the Meet for her efforts throughout the week.
The final event of the SEC meet came in the form of the 400-yard freestyle relay. On the women’s side, the relay team of Milutinovich, de Villiers, Barnes, and Osborne clocked an NCAA A cut with a time of 3:12.17. It is the second straight season the Tigers have recorded an A cut in the event.
Throughout the entire week, LSU competed in several championship finals. By the end of the conference meet, the Tigers collected five medals. The diving Tigers went to the podium in each instance with Lavenant winning the gold on three meter, while earning the silver on platform, and bronze on one meter. On the men’s side, Carson Paul took home silver on the three-meter and bronze on the tower.
At the end of the conference meet, the LSU women are slotted in eighth place with 579 points, while the men hold sixth place with 553 points. The sixth-place finish for the men is the highest for the program since 2013 when LSU came in sixth that year too.
IN THE POOL
To begin the day, the milers competed in time trials before the final session started. Freshman Jovan Lekic led the way for the men in the event by clocking a time of 14:57.99, which ranks second on the LSU all-time top 10 list. Another freshman who impressed in the 1650-yard freestyle was Silas Beth, finishing 16th with a time of 15:06.94. The time ranks fifth in program history. Lekic’s and Beth’s times were B cuts.
On the women’s side, Allison Tomsuden swam the best time, finishing with a time of 16:36.69.
Following the mile to start the final session, LSU competed in the 200-yard backstroke. Reigning SEC Champion in the event, Ella Varga, and Sofia Sartori clocked times in the prelims to qualify for the C final. Sartori placed second in the final with a time of 1:55.00 and Varga touched the wall third with a time of 1:55.44. Both times met the NCAA B standard.
Junior team captain Griffin Curtis raced in the 200-yard back for the men, competing in the B final after clocking a 1:41.63 in the prelims. The time was a school record in the moment, and Curtis lowered it further in the final with a time of 1:40.82. The mark cleared the NCAA B standard.
In the 100-yard freestyle, the LSU women had four Tigers in the final session with two in the B final and two in the C final. Megan Barnes and Michaela de Villiers competed in the B final, finishing third and fourth, respectively, with times of 48.59 and 48.62. In the C final, Reagan Osborne finished in first place with a time of 48.90, while Katarina Milutinovich placed fifth with a time of 49.03. All four times in the final of the 100-free were NCAA B cuts.
Freshman Jere Hribar, who tied for eighth during the 100-free prelims and won the swim-off, competed in the A final after clocking a time of 42.16 in the morning. Hribar matched his time in the final with a 42.16. The B cut time also sits at No. 2 in the LSU records behind U.S. Olympian Brooks Curry.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, senior team captain Mitch Mason qualified for the B final in the morning session with a time of 1:56.72. He returned in the evening session and claimed 6th place with a time of 1:56.85. Both times are under the NCAA B cut.
The men finished in ninth place in the 400-yard free relay with a time of 2:53.42.
ON THE BOARDS
On Saturday, the women competed on the tower. Helle Tuxen, Maggie Buckley, and Lavenant represented LSU with all three Tigers advancing to the championship final. Tuxen placed fourth (275.65), Buckley placed fifth (265.85), and Lavenant claimed seventh (247.10).
In the final, Lavenant claimed her third medal of the SEC meet by placing second with a score of 304.80. Tuxen placed 5th with a score of 251.25 and Buckley claimed seventh with a score of 236.70.
NEXT UP
LSU returns to action when the diving Tigers head to the NCAA Zone D diving regional on the University of Houston’s campus inside the CRWC Natatorium. The event runs from March 11 through March 13. Overall, the Tigers start preparing for the 2024 NCAA Championships.