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Swimming and Diving Falls Short Against Texas A&M in SEC Battle

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Swimming and Diving Falls Short Against Texas A&M in SEC Battle

BRYAN COLLEGE-STATION, Texas – The LSU swimming and diving team battled to the end at the Rec Center Natatorium Saturday, as the Tigers fell short in both the men’s and women’s team scores against Texas A&M in a conference dual meet.

The LSU men finished second with a final score of 172-128 being the difference. On the women’s side, LSU dropped a 163-137 decision to the Aggies.

The Tigers first victory on the day came from freshman Nikola Simic in the 1000-yard freestyle. Simic touched the wall first with a time of 8:52.67, which broke his teammate Silas Beth’s school record. Beth previously held the record from his first meet at LSU when he clocked a time of 8:56.50 against A&M last season.

LSU’s Jovan Lekic would pick up the next individual win for the Tigers in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 1:35.74. Three straight wins followed Lekic’s win in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke. Zoe Carlos-Broc and Stepan Goncharov won in the 100-back with respective times of 52.15 and 46.87.

Freshman Grace Palmer won the 100-breast with a time of 1:00.02.

The next victory for LSU came in the sprint freestyle events, where Michaela de Villiers won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.47. She also collected the win in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.43. Her 100-free time jumped one spot to No. 7 in school history.

Jere Hribar also picked up a win in the 100-free, finishing first with a time of 42.52. After de Villiers and Hribar notched two wins in the 100-free, LSU reeled off three wins in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard breaststroke.

Valeriia Egorova and Griffin Curtis both touched first in the backstroke event with respective times of 1:55.48 and 1:43.99. Palmer added another win in the breaststroke with a time of 2:09.56.

To close out the swimming events, the LSU women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of de Villiers, Carlos-Broc, Anastasia Bako and Megan Barnes won with a time of 1:29.26.

On the boards, Carson Paul won on the one-meter springboard with a final score of 367.65. He also claimed second place on the three-meter springboard with a score of 409.05. Zayne Danielewicz placed sixth on one-meter (314.25) and fifth on three-meter (350.93), while Thomas Dowling was seventh on one-meter (268.88) and three-meter (282.45).

On the women’s side, Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant placed second on three-meter (293.25) and third on one-meter (270.90). Maggie Buckley claimed seventh place on three-meter (246.60) and fifth on one-meter (259.95). Helle Tuxen finished in second place on one-meter with a score of 271.35.

The Tigers return to action Friday, Jan. 24 at 3:00 p.m. CT to take on Delta State in the LSU Natatorium. LSU’s senior meet will follow the next day, Jan. 25, with LSU competing in a tri-team meet against Cincinnati and Delta State at 10:00 a.m. CT.