ATHENS, Ga. – On a busy opening night of the 2024 Georgia Invitational Wednesday, the LSU men’s 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay teams achieved NCAA A cuts, as the Tigers closed out the first day of their midseason meet appearance inside the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Through day one, the LSU men are in fourth place with 159 points, while the LSU women are fourth with 116.5 points. (Note: According to Georgia, official results attached do not include diving – those will be entered Thursday.)
The Tigers opened the finals session in the 200-yard freestyle by finishing in the top four in the women’s and men’s event. The relay team of Sabrina Lyn, Michaela de Villiers, Zoe Carlos-Broc, and Megan Barnes claimed fourth place with a time of 1:28.97. On the men’s side, LSU’s A relay team consisting of Andrew Garon, Jere Hribar, Stepan Goncharov, and Griffin Curtis placed second with a time of 1:16.47.
The men’s time met the NCAA A standard (1:16.51), automatically qualifying the relay team for the NCAA Championships in March. The time also established the school record for the event, which was previously broken last season at the NCAA Championships by Garon, Hribar, Curtis, and Pawel Uryniuk.
The LSU men’s 400-yard medley relay closed out the night by meeting the second NCAA A standard of the night. A team of Goncharov, Mitch Mason, Uryniuk, and Hribar finished in second place with a time of 3:04.92. The standard LSU met was set at 3:04.96, and in addition to meeting it, the relay team broke the school record. The previous record was accomplished at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Megan Barnes was LSU’s highest finisher at No. 15 with a time of 4:48.40. Nicole Santuliana and Jenna Bridges competed in the C final with Santuliana taking 17th place (4:44.78) and Bridges placing 22nd (4:49.60). In the men’s 500-free, Jovan Lekic and Jacob Pishko raced in the A final with Lekic claiming fourth place (4:14.43) and Pishko placing eighth (4:18.43).
In the 200-yard IM, Chloe Cheng swam in the A final and placed sixth with a time of 1:59.02. Lauren Bernardo and Lillian Tichenor competed in the C final and finished in 20th place and 22nd place, respectively. In the men’s event, Curtis also claimed sixth place, finishing with a time of 1:46.23. Additionally, Levi Thome placed 15th with a time of 1:47.49, while Collin Quickstad claimed 19th place with a time of 1:47.83.
In the 50-yard free, de Villiers and Hribar both finished in second place in their respective events. De Villiers touched with a time of 22.29, and Hribar recorded a time of 18.92, breaking the 19 second barrier.
For the women’s 50-free, Lyn and Jessie Liao competed in the B final and clocked a 22.69 and 22.96, respectively. Both Reagan Osborne and Anastasia Bako raced in the C final, finishing back-to-back in the 19th and 20th position.
Goncharov was able to finish in the top five of the 50-free with a time of 19.31, which ranks third in program history.
On the boards, Carson Paul won on the 1-meter springboard with a final score of 353.10. Zayne Danielewicz won the consolation final with a score of 338.50. On the women’s 3-meter, Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant placed third with a score of 312.50. In the consolation final, Helle Tuxen took first place with a final score of 322.70.
The Tigers return to the Gabrielsen Natatorium Thursday for Day Two of the Georgia Invitational. The preliminary session is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. CT.
ORDER OF EVENTS
Thursday
200y Medley Relay
400y IM
100y Butterfly
200y Freestyle
100y Breaststroke
100y Backstroke
Women’s 3m
Men’s 1m
800y Free Relay
Friday
1,650y Freestyle (morning session)
200y Backstroke
100y Freestyle
200y Breaststroke
200y Butterfly
Men’s and Women’s Platform
400y Free Relay