FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – LSU swimmer Jovan Lekic and the 200-yard freestyle relay team led the way for the Tigers’ men’s swimming and diving squad Thursday as they finished in the top-16 for the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-free relay, earning All-American status inside the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center.
Lekic, who is in his sophomore season with LSU, had an incredible swim in the 500-free preliminary session, crushing the program mark with a time of 4:08.55. He finished fourth overall in the prelims before finishing eighth in the final with a time of 4:10.55. His record time from the morning session broke his previous school record time of 4:12.26.
With his top-8 finish in the championship final, Lekic earned his first career All-American honor as a Tiger. His time was the 15th fastest time in history.
Later in the finals session, the 200-free relay team of Jere Hribar, Stepan Goncharov, Griffin Curtis, and Andrew Garon finished in 16th-place with a time of 1:15.83. The time was a school record, and it bestowed All-American status upon each member of the event. Goncharov, Curtis, and Garon tallied their first All-American honor, while Hribar earned the second of his career.
For the men’s relay, it was the first time in program history since 2009 an LSU’s men’s relay has scored at the national meet.
In the early session, LSU had competitors in two of the four events. In the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Nikola Simic swam alongside Lekic, finishing 43rd with a time of 4:19.64. In the 50-yard freestyle, Hribar finished ninth to qualify for the B final with a time of 18.76. Swimming in the consolation final, he finished 12th with a time of 18.86, picking up his second All-American honor of the NCAA meet.
Goncharov also competed in the 50-free, and clocked a time of 19.57, placing 52nd overall.
The Tigers have 11 athletes attending the meet, hoping to hoist a national championship trophy. The athletes include individual qualifiers Simic, Mitch Mason, Hribar, Lekic, and Goncharov. The relay-only swimmers consist of Silas Beth, Pawel Uryniuk, Curtis, and Garon. Divers competing for LSU include Carson Paul and Zayne Danielewicz.
On the diving side, Paul and Danielewicz came out of the NCAA Zone D diving regional by qualifying for the national meet. Paul will dive on the three-meter springboard and platform, while Danielewicz will compete on the three-meter. A full list of participants and their events are listed below.
This season’s NCAA Championships is taking place in Federal Way, Wash., at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center hosted by Washington State University. The next two days, prelims will begin at 12:00 p.m. CT with the finals starting at 8:00 p.m. CT.
The action can be streamed on ESPN+, a subscription-based service. Fans wanting to follow along with the times and scores can view results on the Meet Mobile app. Live swimming results can be found here, while live diving results can be found here.
SCHEDULE OF COMPETITION
Nikola Simic (1650-free), Jere Hribar (200-free, 100-free), Jovan Lekic (200-free), Stepan Goncharov (100-back, 100-free), Mitch Mason (100-breast, 200-breast), Carson Paul (3M, Platform), Zayne Danielewicz (3M)
ORDER OF EVENTS
Friday, March 28
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
400 Medley Relay
3M Diving
Saturday, March 29
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform Diving
400 Free Relay