Neil Harper’s homecoming to his alma mater LSU was not as sweet as he had hoped for as his 11th ranked Florida State Seminole men’s dropped a 154-146 decision to the host Tigers. Florida State’s No.7 ranked women fared better, and kept their undefeated season intact by defeating unranked Louisiana State 180-120.

The victory was the first for the Tigers over a ranked opponent in dual-meet competition since the 2001-02 season when LSU defeated No. 16 Kentucky, 136-105, in Lexington. It also marks the first win for the program over a Top 10 team since the Tigers upset No. 8 Miami (Fla.), 61-52, in Coral Gables.

"Now we are making some rumblings out there that we are to be respected," said head coach Adam Schmitt. "Everyone counts whether it is getting your hand on the wall or hitting the right dive. We came in here with wide open expectations and every point mattered."

In the highly-charged atmosphere of dual meets, such an upset would question how it happened.  Rested? Shaved?  A close look at the times shows that the Tigers were well off their season bests.  Was Florida State looking ahead to their evening session at the Dallas Morning News Classic? Whatever the case, o n this particular day, it was Louisiana State that was the hotter team, a sentiment acknowledged by Harper, “Realistically we would claw back and they would chip ahead again,” added Coach Harper. “Hats off to their guys, they had their top four guys, and we had our depth, but we couldn’t find an individual answer for those guys.”  

Schmitt and Harper are former teammates.  Both swam for LSU during their only SEC Championship season (1988) under the direction of Sam Freas/

 

"Florida State is a good team," said Schmitt. "It is fun to go up against Neil being an alum and that I swam with him. It is a neat way to start our spring season here."

 

The Florida State women were paced by 2006 ACC Rookie of the Year sophomore Christie Raleigh (Toms River, N.J.). Raleigh won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle events with NCAA “B” cut times of 23.14 and 50.32, respectively. The 200-yard medley relay, comprised of Raleigh, ACC performer of the week senior Lauren Brick (Culpeper, Va.), junior Lauren Sparg (Durban, South Africa) and junior Abbie King (Brunswick, Maine) took the victory in an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 1:42.82. Brick also took a victory in the 100 Breaststroke with a NCAA “B” cut time of 1:03.81.

"We were kind of wondering how the meet would go with LSU winning two of the first three events,” said Head Coach Neil Harper about the women’s meet. “We had a few people step up, the breaststrokers were strong. Lauren Brick was feeling a little under the weather, but still managed to get a key win in the 100 breaststroke.”

Freshman Tiffany Elias (Phoenix, Ariz.) notched her fifth win of the season in the 200-yard butterfly by finishing in a time of 2:03.38. Coming in with a time of 2:02.46, senior Romy Altmann (Cape Town, South Africa) backed her way into a victory in the 200-yard backstroke Sophomore Georgia Holderness (Butleigh, Somerset, England) touched the wall in 2:18.74 to take the victory in the 200-yard breaststroke, she later would finish the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:06.13 to complete a two victory day. Sparg doubled her victories as well, when she took the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.51.

“Collectively they stayed strong and had some wins which is very important,” added Coach Harper. “About two thirds of the way through the meet we knew that we had the meet in hand.”

The final event win of the day for the Seminoles’ came from freshman Jennifer Guyler (Palm Harbor, Fla.) who led two other Seminoles to a win-place-show trifecta in a time of 4:57.03. Guyler was followed by sophomore Caroline Robertson (Ocala, Fla.) and junior Linsday Kenney (Plano, Texas) who touched the wall in times of 4:57.73 and 5:03.32, respectively.

 

"The women swam really well," said Schmitt. "We had nearly lifetime-best times right here at this meet, let alone season-best times. We had so many good times. Both teams have to be excited about the confidence and progress we have going."  

The Tigers captured 12 of the 16 men's events, which included three individual victories from sophomore sensation Julius Gloeckner.

LSU needed to take first place in the final two events of the meet to pull the upset, and the Tigers got it when Gloeckner cruised to victory in the 200 individual medley (1:52.45).

With little rest, Gloeckner finished off the meet with the final 50 yards of the 200 freestyle relay. LSU's group of junior Miko Malberg, sophomore Connor Farber, junior Christoph Lubenau and Gloeckner bested the Seminoles by nearly two seconds in a clocking of 1:22.30 that sent off a jubilant celebration.

The clutch swim came nearly two months to the day when the Tigers almost upset No. 18 Alabama in a similar situation.

"It came down to the last race," said Schmitt. "The same thing happened against Alabama, but we were on the short end of that. That meet kept us hungry because we then went to Texas A&M and won the (Art Adamson) Invite. We came in here just wanting to compete." 

Malberg, freshman Will Rivers and junior Kevin Braud each added a pair of individual victories to LSU's final tally. All three contributed to the Tigers' first-place finish in the 200 medley relay at the start of the meet (1:32.40).

Rivers then improved on his school-record clocking in the 1000 free by out-touching the Seminoles in a time of 9:11.50. He later completed a sweep of the free distance events with a win in the 500 free (4:28.18).

Braud swept both backstroke events, taking first place in the 100 back (49.55) and 200 back (1:48.85).

The LSU men earned critical 1-2 finishes in three events. After taking the 50 free with ease (20.39), Malberg and Farber finished first and second in the 100 free in times of 45.39 and 46.08, respectively.

Farber added a second-place mark of 50.28 in the 100 fly behind Lubenau's winning swim of 49.60. The Tigers' other 1-2 finish came in the 200 free when Gloeckner (1:40.18) and Farber (1:40.60) touched the wall.

Gloeckner's three-win day was complete with a first-place clocking of 1:49.95 in the 200 fly.

On the women's side, sophomore Katherine Noland won the 200 free (1:50.84) followed by a second-place finish of 1:52.33 from sophomore Sarah Dicharry. Noland was second in the 100 fly (56.91).

Sophomore Katie Gilmore recorded the fourth-fastest 100 back time in school history with a winning swim of 56.47. Gilmore took runner-up honors in the 50 free (23.41).

 

Junior Clare Schepens was one second off a career-fast 1000 free time in a victorious swim of 10:14.15.

In women's 3-meter springboard diving, LSU took home the top three spots as all three LSU divers recorded scores over 300 points. It is the first time in the Doug Shaffer era that all three Lady Tiger divers posted scores over 300 in 1-2-3 finishes.

Freshman Rachel Ware took top honors with a career-best score of 323.63, while senior Hali Saucier was second (307.50) and junior Paige Brown was third (304.65).

"We had two Lady Tigers with personal-best performance with Rachel and Paige," said Shaffer. "If all three of them were to do that at the NCAA Zone qualifying meet, we would have three Lady Tigers at the NCAA Championships."

Saucier posted her 12th victory of the year with a win in the 1-meter (291.90). Ware completed a 1-2 LSU finish with a score of 260.54.

Sophomore Nathan Schreiber took runner-up honors in the men's 1-meter with a score of 273.82. Senior Andrew Keane, competing in his final home meet, was the Tigers' highest scorer in the 3-meter with a fourth-place score of 301.95.

"We dove pretty well on the men's side, but we have another level that we are reaching for yet," added Shaffer. "That homework is going to come in practice."

Keane was recognized with Saucier, Colleen Bertirotti, Melissa Stanley and Chris Cloutet in a special Senior Day ceremony honoring the dedication the student-athletes have given to the program the past four years.

LSU will go up against its sixth ranked opponent of the season next Saturday, Jan. 20 at noon as the Tigers travel to College Station to face Texas A&M. The Aggie women are ranked fifth in the latest Collegiate Swim Coaches Association of America Top 25 poll.