ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 11/13 LSU swimming and diving team ended the second day of the Georgia Invitational with the women in third place (265), trailing Florida and Georgia, while the men finished up the day in fourth (247), behind Florida, Georgia, and Florida State on Wednesday night in the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The LSU men’s 200-free relay squad of Diggory Dillingham, Jere Hribar, Stepan Goncharov, and Simon Meubry set the school record with a time of 1:15.74. The previous record was set at NCAAs earlier this spring.
The Tigers saw a total of 26 swimming times advance from the prelims to the finals in the Wednesday morning session. Sofia Sartori and Zoe Carlos-Broc made the A-Final of the 100-fly; Nicole Santuliana made the A-Final of the 400-IM; Megan Barnes, Hribar, and Meubry made the A-Final in the 200-free; and Martina Bukvic and Volodymyr Lisovets made the A-Final in the 100-breast.
Avery Littlefield, Giulia Zambelli, Malou Douillard, Caleb Ellis, Stuart Higdon, Dillingham, Jon Avdiu, Albert Bouley, Lauren Bernardo, Chloe Cheng, Saskia Blasius, Collin Quickstad, Anastasia Bako, Karlo Percinic, Sabrina Lyn, and Grace Palmer also advanced to the B or C-Final in their respective events.
In the diving prelims, Carson Paul was the lone Tiger diver to advance to the finals. The senior clinched the finals in the 3-meter with a total score of 369.45 in the prelims. Travis Keith finished the prelims in 11th with a score of 326.50. Eve Nelson placed 10th in the women’s 1-meter diving with a 247.80, and Morgan Lalonde placed 12th with a score of 216.50.
The Wednesday night finals began with the 100-fly, where Sartori notched fourth overall, clocking in at 52.42. Carlos-Broc followed Sartori, finishing sixth with a time of 52.87. Littlefield won the B-Final with a time of 52.23, good for ninth overall, while Zambelli followed in 11th, clocking in at 52.90. For the men, Higdon recorded the Tiger men’s best time of the night, coming in at 47.54, for 13th place. Ellis (47.61 – 15th), Dillingham (47.71 – 17th), Bouley (48.28 – T-20th), and Avdiu (49.07 – 24th) followed next.
In the 400-IM, Santuliana moved into eighth all-time in program history with a time of 4:14.75. The sophomore finished in sixth overall in the finals. Bernardo touched the wall first in the B-Final, for ninth overall, posting a time of 4:16.14. Cheng placed 13th (4:21.05), and Blasius finished 17th (4:21.99). Quickstad was the only men’s finals qualifier in the event. The sophomore placed 14th overall with a time of 3:53.95.
Barnes took fourth in the women’s 200-free with a time of 1:44.39. Zambelli and Bako placed 18th and 19th, respectively. On the men’s side, Hribar notched third with a personal-best time of 1:32.80. His time sits third in the program all-time. Meubry took sixth, posting a time of 1:34.29 – slotted fifth in program history. Percinic finished in 18th with a time of 1:35.71.
Bukvic followed up in the 100-breast with a third-place, personal-best 59.54, ranking third all-time in program history. Lyn took the top spot in the B-Final for ninth place with a time of 59.70. Palmer followed in 14th with a time of 1:01.86. Lisovets was the only male to make the 100-breast final, and the sophomore put up a third-place time of 51.93.
In the final event of the night – the 200-free relay – the LSU women’s A-squad of de Villiers, Littlefield, Carlos-Broc, and Bako took the second spot (1:27.90). The men’s A-squad of Dillingham, Hribar, Goncharov, and Meubry placed second with a school record time of 1:15.74 to end the day on a high note. The time ranks third in the NCAA this year.
Paul finished second in the 3-meter diving finals, tallying a score of 380.20.
The Thursday session will feature prelims for the 100-back, 200-breast, 500-free, 50-free, 3m diving (W), and 1m diving (M) at 8:30 a.m. CT. The finals of these events, along with the 400-medley relay, will occur at 4:30 p.m. CT.
Live stats can be followed on the MeetMobile app, and the meet will be streamed on SECN+.
For the latest news on LSU swimming and diving, fans can follow the team’s social media outlets at lsuswimdive on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Fans can also donate to the Excellence Fund here.