LSU Breaks Five Pool Records & Three School Records In Exciting Season Opener vs. Texas

BATON ROUGE, La. – In a very exciting ranked matchup between No. 19/23 LSU and No. 2/3 Texas, the Tigers finished the dual meet by lowering five pool records and three school records inside the LSU Natatorium Friday afternoon.

Despite falling in both dual meets in team finishes, LSU saw some massive success individually with freshman Nicole Santuliana breaking two school records in her first meet. In the distance events, she finished third in the 1000-yard free with a time of 9:39.52 and second in the 500-yard free with a time of 4:40.85. In the 1000-free, Santuliana broke the 22-year-old record, previously held by Stephanie Smith (9:50.51).

She broke Megan Barnes’ 500-free time that was established in 2024 at the NCAA Championship meet.

The Tigers’ 400-yard free relay team of Andrew Garon, Jere Hribar, Stepan Goncharov, and Griffin Curtis joined in on the fun by breaking the school mark with a time of 2:51.58.

On a day that had three school records broken, LSU also rewrote the pool record board with five pool records being lowered. The list included four individuals and one relay squad. The meet started off strong with the men’s 200-yard medley relay going 1:24.34 with Goncharov, Mitch Mason, Pawel Uryniuk, and Hribar winning the event.

Additionally, Mason lowered the pool mark in the 100-yard breast (53.12), Jacob Pishko lowered the record in the 200-yard fly (1:43.55), Hribar established the 100-yard free pool record (43.12), and Grace Palmer is the record holder in the 200-yard breast (2:09.12).

Overall, LSU picked up nine event wins on the afternoon. Hribar and Michaela de Villiers dominated the sprint freestyle events, both taking first in the 50-free and 100-free. Mason and Pishko won the 100-breast and 200-fly, respectively. Palmer, a freshman, touched the wall first in the 200-breast.

On the boards, defending three-meter SEC champion Montserrat Lavenant won the event with a score of 358.95. Helle Tuxen and Maggie Buckley rounded out the top three on the three-meter springboard. On the one-meter, the trio finished back-to-back-to-back again from second place to fourth place.

For the men’s divers, Carson Paul placed second on one-meter with Zayne Danielewicz and Thomas Dowling finishing third and sixth, respectively. On the three-meter, Danielewicz claimed third, Paul placed fourth, and Dowling finished in sixth.

The following is a look at Tigers who have met an NCAA qualifying standard this season:

1. 200-Free 
   1. Megan Barnes – 1:46.36 (B standard)
2. 100-Back
   1. Zoe Carlos-Broc – 52.93 (B standard)
   2. Valeriia Egorova – 53.41 (B standard)
   3. Stepan Goncharov – 46.04 (B standard)
3. 100-Breast
   1. Mitch Mason – 53.12 (B standard)
4. 200-Fly
   1. Sofia Sartori – 1:55.72 (B standard)
   2. Jenna Bridges – 1:58.30 (B standard)
   3. Jacob Pishko – 1:43.55 (B standard)
5. 50-Free
   1. Michaela de Villiers – 22.38 (B standard)
   2. Jere Hribar – 19.46 (B standard)
6. 100-Free
   1. Michaela de Villiers – 49.03 (B standard)
   2. Jere Hribar – 43.12 (B standard)
7. 200-Back
   1. Valeriia Egorova – 1:54.57 (B standard)
8. 200-Breast
   1. Grace Palmer – 2:09.12 (B standard)
9. 500-Free
   1. Nicole Santuliana – 4:40.85 (B standard)
   2. Megan Barnes – 4:46.90 (B standard)
   3. Jacob Pishko – 4:21.17 (B standard)
10. 100-Fly
    1. Sofia Sartori – 52.48 (B standard)