KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The LSU swimming and diving team tacked on three more medals, including a gold, silver, and bronze on Friday night of the 2026 SEC Championships at Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tenn.
Carson Paul took the SEC title, winning gold in the platform diving with a score of 448.70. It was the Tigers’ first gold medal of the meet. The men’s 200-free relay team of Diggory Dillingham, Jere Hribar, Stepan Goncharov, and Simon Meubry finished with a silver medal in the event, putting together a time of 1:15.13. The time was a school record. Hribar recorded a personal-best time of 18.57 in the 100-free for a bronze medal, bringing his medal count for the meet to four.
“LSU is great,” said Paul. “I think we’re really starting to get on the board, and people are really starting to take notice that we’re no longer a pushover in the SEC.”
At the conclusion of the night, both LSU’s men’s and women’s teams had improved in the meet’s team rankings. The women jumped into fifth with 533.5 points, while the men moved into sixth with 525 points. Texas still leads the meet on the men’s and women’s sides.
A total of thirteen Tigers moved on to the finals from the prelims. Hribar, Michaela de Villiers, and Avery Littlefield made the A Final of the 50-free, and Guilherme Camossato, Grace Palmer, and Martina Bukvic advanced to the A Final of the 200-breast. Camossato did so with a school-record time of 1:53.21, taking down former Tiger Mitch Mason’s time by well over a second.
Megan Barnes and Levi Thome made B Finals – Barnes in the 500-free and Thome in the 200-breast. Jacob Pishko, Nicole Santuliana, and Meubry each advanced to the C Final of their respective events – the 500-free for Pishko and Santuliana, and the 50-free for Meubry.
Paul and Travis Keith were the other two Tigers to make it past prelims. Paul advanced to the A Finals of the platform diving as the second overall seed, while Travis Keith made the B Final as the ninth overall seed. It was the first time this week that both LSU divers advanced past prelims.
The final session on Friday night began for the Tigers with Palmer and Bukvic touching the wall fourth and fifth, respectively. Palmer came in with a time of 2:09.07, while Bukvic finished with a time of 2:09.23. On the men’s side, Thome placed 16th with a time of 1:55.69. Camossato followed up, breaking the school record once again in the 200-breast. He posted a time of 1:52.95.
In the 50-free, Meubry set a personal best time of 19.42, placing 20th. Hribar followed up with a bronze medal in a close A Final. Hribar’s time (18.57) came up 0.01 seconds short of Brooks Curry’s school record. On the women’s side, de Villiers and Littlefield both put up personal best times. De Villiers finished fifth, clocking a time of 21.59, while Littlefield touched the wall seventh with a time of 21.93.
Barnes won the B Final of the 500-free with a school record time of 4:39.51, finishing ninth overall. She broke her own record, which was set at the SEC Championships last year. Santualiana placed 21st with a time of 4:46.17. On the men’s side, Pishko finished with a time of 4:19.06 for 21st.
The women’s 200-medley relay team of de Villiers, Littlefield, Zoe Carlos-Broc, and Barnes took the fourth spot, touching the wall with a time of 1:26.75. The squad missed the school record by just 0.05 seconds. The men ended the night with their silver-medal, school-record performance.
In the diving well, Keith finished 16th overall with a score of 278.70. Paul followed in the A Final with his gold-medal-winning performance, which was his second gold medal in the SEC Championships; his first was the 3m in 2025.
The Saturday session will feature prelims of the 200-IM, 100-free, and 200-back at 8:30 a.m. CT. Prelims for the women’s platform diving are set to start at 11 a.m. CT. At 4:30 p.m. CT, the finals session will begin, consisting of each event, as well as the 400-free relay.
Live stats can be followed on the MeetMobile app, and live coverage of the meet will be on SEC Network+.
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.